American misses a record fourth title by six seconds
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Evelyn Stevens leads Boels Dolmans(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mixed emotions for Boels Dolmans after finishing in second place(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Boels Dolmans had to race with five after Majerus punctured(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Boels Dolmans riders on the podium having finished second(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Boels Dolmans rode to second place(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Evelyn Stevens (Boels Dolmans) missed earning another team time trial World Championship title in Richmond Sunday when the team finished six seconds behind Velocio-SRAM, who won the event for a fourth straight year. The silver medal was bittersweet for Stevens, having missed breaking the record at home of becoming the first woman to win gold for the fourth time since the event was reintroduced. The record instead went to former teammate Trixi Worrack of Velocio-SRAM.
"I'm really proud of how my team raced today," Stevens told Cyclingnews. "We had a puncture in the first 5km with Cristine [Majerus], so that was just bad luck. I think we could have gotten down because of that. But we were in contention for the whole race. I had teammates go so deep to fight to stay in."
The squad was forced to ride the majority of the course with only five riders after losing Majerus. The team had notched the fastest time at the second time check, but Ellen van Dijk struggled on the final climb up Governor Street before the finishing stretch. The squad was forced to slow down in order to cross the line with four riders. In the end it cost them valuable seconds.
"Six seconds is sad, but we're there," Stevens said. "It's a matter of doing a few things differently. Because we lost Christine things changed. Your fourth rider is your strongest. You have to pace it correctly. She did so much early work because she can keep the speed where it’s really fast where, for instance, I can't.
"Congrats to Trixi," Stevens said of Worrack's record fourth win. "It was close, but it was good."
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