When the reduced peloton was shredded to pieces by vicious accelerations at more than 30km to go in the women's road race at the Glasgow World Championships, Blanka Vas (Hungary), Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands) and Anna Shackley's chances of playing any further role in the battle to cross the finish line first slipped away, but then another race began.
That’s because the rainbow jersey Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) was riding towards out the front wasn’t the only one up for grabs as the U23 world title would be awarded to the first rider in that category over the line in the combined elite/U23 women's race.
