Despite her notable achievements throughout this Cyclocross season, Marie Schreiber fell short of securing a medal in the U23 race at the World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, this Sunday.The Luxembourgish champion had to settle for a disappointing 5th place.
Nonetheless, Welsh cyclist Zoe Backstedt won her world champion title in quite a spectacular manner. Backstedt quickly gained a significatn lead over her competitors, navigating the muddy course with remarkable skill. As she crossed the finish line, she held a lead of 44 seconds over the Czech cyclist Kristyna Zemanova and 55 seconds over the Dutch competitor Leonie Bentveld. Schreiber maintained fourth position throughout the race, only being surpassed by another competitor shortly before the finish line ultimately finishing in fifth place with a gap of one minute and 42 seconds.
Live Wenzel, the other Luxembourgish competitor in this race, finished 19th, with a gap of 5 minutes and 40 seconds.
Despite her swift start, Schreiber quickly slipped to the fourth position behind the current champion Backstedt, as well as behind Zemanova and Bentveld. Backstedt set the pace during the second lap, maintaining her lead despite the challenging terrain. Behind her, Bentveld caught up with Zemanova, finishing the lap 56 seconds behind Backstedt, who had already started her third lap. Unfortunately, Schreiber was unable to close the gap and remained in the fourth position, trailing the leader by one minute and 10 seconds.
The third round ended in a similar manner with Schreiber narrowly missing securing a spot on the podium by a few seconds.
In the fourth and final lap, the Luxembourgish cyclist struggled to bridge the gap between herself and her competitors. Despite her best efforts, she finished in 5th position with a gap of 1 minute and 42 seconds. Zemanova claimed the second position, Bentveld secured the third spot, and Backstedt snatched the gold medal.
Ricky Meylender best Luxembourgish Junior
In the Junior category, the title was claimed by the Italian cyclist Stefano Viezzi, who secured a victory with a lead of 9 seconds over the Dutch cyclist Keije Solen. The bronze medal went to the Czech Krystof Bazant, finishing with a gap of 31 seconds. Rick Meylander secured the 37th position with a time gap of 5 minutes and 47 seconds, Yannis Lang secured the 43rd position with a gap of 6 minutes and 16 seconds, and Yonah Flammang finished 58th with a time gap of 7 minutes and 40 seconds
