Italian rider Tatiana Guderzo improved on her Olympic bronze medal in Mendrizio, Switzerland, today when she won the Elite women�s world cycling championship road race.
The 25 year old jumped clear on the final lap, breaking away from a four-woman group consisting of former champion Marianne Vos (Netherland), her own team-mate Noemi Cantele and Kristin Armstrong (USA). She reached the finish 19 seconds ahead of the chasing trio, who finished in that order.
Last year�s champion Nicole Cooke (Great Britain) retired during the race, as did Irish duo Siobhan Horgan (n�e Dervan) and Olivia Dillon. Dervan had placed 24th last year and hoped to improve on that, but her chances were foiled by a course made treacherous by early rain.
�Siobhan got caught behind some crashes, getting held up a number of times,� said Cycling Ireland�s High Performance Director Phil Leigh. �It was a very tough circuit, and was very dangerous in the wet � there were riders coming off all over the place at the start.�
Dillon was also a non finisher. �Her main goal at the world was to ride as well as possible in the time trial. In the road race, her target was to ride in support of Siobhan. She supported her in getting to the front near the start, then had a problem with her chain.� Dillion lost ground and withdrew.
Dervan will undoubtedly be disappointed with how things turned out, but will now turn her mind to track competition. She and Dillion will head to Aigle tomorrow and link up with Heather Wilson, Heather Boyle, Jennifer O�Reilly, Kate Rudd, Caroline Ryan and Sinead Jennings at a track training camp there. The goal is to identify the strengths of each and help the riders develop in the velodrome. It will run from September 28th until October 2nd.
Ireland had no entrants in this afternoon�s under 23 men�s race, which was won by Frenchman Romain Sicard ahead of Carlos Alberto (Colombia) and Egor Silin (Russia). British rider Peter Kennaugh was fourth.
The final Irish squad in action is the trio of Nicolas Roche, Daniel Martin and Vuelta a Espa�a stage winner Philip Deignan. They will compete against the world�s best in tomorrow�s Elite men�s road race, and are hoping for a big result.
------
UCI Road World Championships, Mendrisio, Switzerland, September 23-27:
Women's Elite Road Race:
1 Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) 124.2 kilometres in 3 hours 33 mins 25 secs
2, Marianne Vos (Netherlands) at 19 secs
3, Noemi Cantele (Italy)
4, Kristin Armstrong (United States Of America)
5, Diana Ziliute (Lithuania) at 1 min 7 secs
6, Judith Arndt (Germany)
Other:
DNF: Siobhan Horgan (Ireland)
DNF: Olivia Dillon (Ireland)