Huge ride sees Great Britain's Zoe Backstedt become double Junior World Champion on 18th birhday

A remarkable ride from Great Britain's Zoe Backstedt on her 18th birthday saw her add the road race rainbow jersey to the time trial title taken earlier in the week. That makes it the fourth rainbow jersey that Backstedt currently holds, along with the World junior madison and cyclocross titles. Backstedt won by a larger margin than anyone has before, on either men's or women's side.

Backstedt went solo on the first lap and «never looked back» eventually coming home more than two minutes ahead of France's Eglantine Rayer and Nienke Vinke of the Netherlands. Ad The 67km course featured four ascents of the challenging Mount Pleasant climb. After her convincing victory in the time trial Backstedt was a strong favourite to win the road race for the second year in a row.

World Championships'What an absolute ride!' — Van Vleuten produces stunning win in World Championships36 MINUTES AGO 72 riders set out at 8am in what looked set to be challenging conditions, with the British team looming threateningly at the front of the bunch. The four riders paroled the head of the peloton, leading them onto the climb at a high pace that blew the field apart. Interviewed ahead of the race Backstedt said «I'd love to go solo,» and so it proved.

With 58km still to race, just after the summit of Mount Pleasant, she found herself with a gap as France and Switzerland were forced to spin their legs to chase her down. A small gap became a large one; a few gentle taps of the hammer on the descent became mighty strikes. After ten kilometres it already looked like two separate races, with the field fighting it out for scraps.