LONDON — Olympic champions Sophie Capewell, Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant stormed to gold for Great Britain in the women’s team sprint at the Cycling World Championships.
The trio defeated the Netherlands with a time of 45.949 in Ballerup, Denmark.
The trio clinched the gold medal in this summer’s Paris Olympics – Britain’s first women’s team sprint side to do so – and is now the first British women’s squad to become sprint world champions since 2008.
“It feels really, really special because 2008 is such a long time ago,” said 31-year-old Marchant.
“It has been a long time coming but we have put the graft in. It has been an incredible season, but to finish with gold today is great.
“What we did in Paris was so, so special. We craved that feeling again. This feels different but it’s as special in a different way.
“Personally, this felt harder than winning the Olympic gold because of the high we’d had from the Games – to get back into training, get into the headspace and get prepared after an exhausting year.”
Britain’s Joe Truman, Marcus Hiley and Harry Ledingham-Horn lost out to Japan in the bronze medal race of the men’s team sprint.
Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland delivered a sixth gold in seven years for the Netherlands, who arrived at these championships as defending Olympic and world champions and were too strong for silver medallists Australia.
Meanwhile, a British quartet of Rhys Britton, Josh Charlton, Ethan Hayter and Charlie Tanfield comfortably advanced to the final of the men’s team pursuit and will race Denmark for gold on Thursday.
There was further Dutch joy as Lorena Wiebes won gold in the women’s scratch race in her first Track World Championships.
Wiebes, 25, who has tasted success on the road, held off the 2023 winner, American Jennifer Valente, and New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston, who finished in second and third.
Dutch cyclist Harrie Lavreysen won his 14th world championship track title with victory in the team sprint event, equalling the all-time record of Frenchman Arnaud Tournant.
The 27-year-old, a five-time Olympic champion, will have several opportunities between now and the end of the championships in Denmark to claim the record for himself.
With Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, the Dutch team dominated Australia in the final while Japan beat Britain in the bronze medal match, AFP reported.
Lavreysen now has six team sprint titles, five individual and three keirin titles.
Tournant won nine world titles in team sprint, one in the individual event and four in the time-trial between 1997 and 2008.
Lavreysen has built an incredible track record in five years, including a hat-trick (individual and team sprint, keirin) at the Paris Olympics in August, to become the most successful Dutch athlete in the history of the Summer Games.
Grace Brown, meanwhile, has fittingly closed her cycling career with another win, capping a dream swansong season.
The Australian cyclist took out the Chrono des Nations time trial for the first time, beating FDJ-Suez teammate Vittoria Guazzini by 51 seconds over the 27.2km event in France.
“It’s done … it’s time for the rest of life,” Brown said in an Instagram video post from her team.
The 32-year-old will return to Melbourne in the next few days, with a bulging trophy cabinet to enjoy.
The time trial specialist won Australia’s first gold medal at the Olympics, taking out the event in sodden conditions on day one of the Games.
It was Brown’s first Olympic medal. Brown had started the year in January by winning her third-straight Australian time trial championship – the fourth time overall she had claimed the title – despite a back injury.
“I know that I could have many more years in cycling,” Brown said in June in a video announcement.
“But I really miss my life in Australia with my husband, my family and my friends and it is something that is harder and harder to leave.”
In April she had the biggest road race win of her career, claiming the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic.
Two months later, with Paris looming, Brown stunned the sport by announcing this season would be her last.
Brown explained in an emotional video post that she missed her Australian life.
There were plenty of queries after her Paris gold medal about whether Brown would revisit that decision, and those questions only multiplied after the Australian starred last month at the world road championships.
Brown won her first time trial world title and then was part of the Australian team that claimed the mixed team relay, also for the first time.
In May, Brown also won the Bretagne Tour in France for the second-straight year.
Brown ends her professional cycling career with 26 wins – and the top highlights all this season.
Brown wanted to go out on top. Having picked up the bike less than a decade ago, she made a rapid rise through the sport.
She won her first domestic tour in 2018, and was soon racing professionally. It was in the gruelling race against the clock that Brown made her name – winning the individual time trial national title in 2019 and finishing fourth in the discipline at the Tokyo Olympics two years later.
Since then, Brown has rarely been off the podium in any time trial. At the 2022 road world championships in Wollongong, the home favourite won the silver medal. It was second again a year later.
But entering what would become her final season Brown had, aside from a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2022, continuously fallen just short of the top step of the podium. If the Australian was going to call time on her career, she wanted to go one better.
In April, in an ominous sign of early season form, Brown became the first Australian woman to win one of cycling’s “Monuments” – the five pinnacle one-day races – with victory at Liege–Bastogne–Liege.
And then it was all eyes on the 60-odd kilometres that would define her legacy; 32.4km around the streets of Paris at the Olympics, and 29.9km in Zurich for the world championships.
At the world championships in Switzerland, it was a tighter affair. Following an initial biting climb and then a fast descent, Dutchwoman Demi Vollering held a slight advantage midway through the race.
But for the latter, flatter half of the course, Brown was in her element – regaining the lead and ultimately winning the rainbow stripes by 16 seconds.
It was yet more history for Brown. Gold in Paris made her only the third Australian to win an Olympic title on the road, after Kathy Watt’s legendary road race win at Barcelona 1992 and Sara Carrigan’s glory in Athens.
Ilse Pluimers, the 22-year-old Dutch cyclist, has extended her contract with AG Insurance-Soudal until the end of 2026. The announcement was made on Sunday 13th October, where Pluimers expressed her happiness with the renewed commitment from her team.
“I am incredibly happy with the trust the team has placed in me,” said Pluimers in a press release.
“It really gives me a great feeling, and I am so pleased that I can extend my contract. The team feels like one big family to me, and I truly feel at home here. It’s comforting to know that I can continue to be a part of this close-knit and warm group in the coming years.”
Pluimers, who has shown her talent in the classics, highlighted that the spring season remains a key focus for her, especially with her sights set on Paris Roubaix Femmes.
“The spring season is a particularly important goal for me. Without a doubt, it’s my favourite time to race, and I’m really looking forward to delivering my best performances, especially in Paris-Roubaix. This is the race I’ve set my sights on, and I’m determined to achieve strong results here.”
While her focus is on the upcoming spring races, she also underlined her aspirations beyond the races themselves.
Pluimers is keen to further her development both as an athlete and as an individual. “Off the bike, it’s also a goal of mine to continue developing myself as a person, both within and outside of the sport,” she shared.
Looking to the future, Pluimers is hopeful that she can take on more of a leadership role within the team. “As for my role in the team, I hope to take on more leadership in the future. I want to further develop myself as a classics rider and share my experience and knowledge with the younger riders.
“The idea of making an even greater contribution to the team’s success and supporting my teammates motivates me immensely to keep growing in my role as a rider,” she added.
