“I felt amazing all day,” said Koerber. “I was racing to win and throughout the race I always believed I could win. The U.S. support out on the course today was awesome. I was inspired to race an inspired race.”

 

The elite women tackled five laps for a distance of 32-kilometers under beautiful, sunny skies in Canberra’s Stromlo Park on Saturday morning. Starting according to their current, overall UCI ranking Koerber, Mary McConneloug (Fairfax, Calif./ Kenda-Seven Cycles) and Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna) lined up side-by-side in 11th, 12th and 13th while Irmiger started 21st, Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Planet Bike) 44th and Judy Freeman (Boulder, Colo./Tough Girl-Scott) 49th. The U.S. women got off to a great start and after the first two laps Koerber and Compton found themselves in the top ten while Irmiger was battling back up after an untimely flat tire in the early going. Koerber was the only rider to survive out of that second group and with two laps to go was riding in second place behind race leader Lene Byberg (NOR). After suffering an early- race mechanical, the world’s second-ranked rider Irina Kalentieva (RUS) was moving up from the mid 20’s to eventually catch and pass Byberg for the win. Koerber’s bronze was the first world championship medal of her career as was Byberg’s silver. Kalentieva’s world title however was her second in three years.

Other American women in the top 20 were Heather Irmiger (10th), Katie Compton (14th) and Georgia Gould (15th).

Click here for the full Canberra story by Rob Jones.


Willow Koerber (file photo)