Chloe Dygert upsets Dutch to claim Yorkshire 2019 World Championship women’s time trial title

The American flew round the course to become the new world champion
Jonny Long

Chloe Dygert upset Dutch dreams after she smashed the Yorkshire World Championship 2019 women’s time trial course to claim gold.

The American beat the Dutch duo of Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten, who took silver and bronze respectively, with Van der Breggen finishing more than a minute and a half down on Dygert.

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>>> Top under-23 riders react to ‘crazy’ weather conditions at Yorkshire 2019 World Championships

This will be the third year in a row Van der Breggen has finished second in the world time trial event, finally besting Van Vleuten who beat her in 2017 and 2018. Van der Breggen had put 20 seconds into her compatriot as she crossed the line, but was not accounting for the 43km/h pace set by Dygert around the 30.3km course.

Britain’s Alice Barnes finished 16th, 4-33 down on the winning time, while Hayley Simmonds (Great Britain) finished in 26th, 5-36 down.

Speaking post-race, Dygert said: “I really prepared very well for this, we took this year and just worked towards this race. I had my concussion last year so we had to take this slow and now we’re looking forward to Tokyo. It’s always very special to wear the stripes, it’s everybody’s goal, and I’m just super thankful for everyone who believed in me.”

Commenting on the weather, which made for a chaotic men’s U23 time trial this morning, she added: “I live in Washington state so I’m used to riding in the rain and I knew everyone else was going to be scared so I tried to make the most of it.”

Result

UCI Road World Championships 2019, elite women’s time trial: Ripon to Harrogate (30.3km)

1. Chloe Dygert (American), in 42-11
2. Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands), at 1-32
3. Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands), at 1-53
4. Amber Neben (USA), at 2-38
5. Lisa Klein (Germany), at 2-41
6. Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), at 3-02
7. Leah Thomas (USA), at 3-13
8. Lucinda Brand (Netherlands), at 3-16
9. Alena Amialiusik (Belarus), at 3-18
10. Lisa Brennauer (Germany), at 3-20

Others:

16. Alice Barnes (Great Britain), at 4-33
26. Hayley Simmonds (Great Britain), at 5-36