New Zealand cyclist Sophie Williamson has been pipped for a medal in a sprint finish of the junior women's road race at the UCI World Championships in the Netherlands.
The 18-year-old finished fourth on Friday night (NZ time) in the 80 kilometre road race, consisting of five laps of the Limburg circuit with a climb up the Cauberg Hill each lap.
It completes an outstanding month for the talented young rider from Alexandra, who won two silver medals in the junior track world championships in New Zealand last month.
Williamson, the sole New Zealander in the race, felt strong in the climb but was unable to shake loose of the strong cover by the big national teams.
"I felt good up the climb all day. I had a bit of a go on the fourth lap and a group of eight of us got a slight break but it was closed down quickly. The big teams closed everything down and with five laps to go it was going to come down to a bunch sprint."
Williamson had just two days off her bike after the track world championships before some long training rides, a road race in Timaru and a kermesse victory in Europe.
"At first the race was only 65km and so I didn't feel I needed to go out and smash it in training on the longer stuff. But they changed it to 80km just before the championships."
She was handy to the lead throughout the race, keeping out of the way of a number of crashes. The Great Britain squad produced the major lead-out train, promoting their sprinter Lucy Garner to the win ahead of Norway's Eline Brustad in two hours, 11 minutes, 26 seconds.
Williamson fought hard at the finish sprint to be half a wheel from Italy's Zita Stricker for the bronze.
It completes an outstanding junior career for Williamson, who has her sights set on racing for a road team in Europe or the US next year.
On Saturday night it is the turn of the under-23 men over 177km (Tom David, Josh Atkins, and Tom Scully) and elite women over 145km (Linda Villumsen, Emily Collins, Emma Crum, Kate Chilcott) with the elite men on Monday (NZ time).
NZN