Italy's Elisa Balsamo took a commanding victory in the junior women road race at the World Championships in Doha, beating her rivals by a clear margin.
Balsamo, who finished sixth in Richmond last year, capitalised on a strong lead-out from her Italian teammates to beat the USA's Skylar Schneider on the long drag to the finish line. Susanne Andersen made it another medal for Norway as she sprinted to third place.
The junior women had an early start to the day, setting off at 8:30 local time for four laps of the 15.2km circuit of the Pearl. A big crash in the opening kilometre caught out a lot of riders and set off a mad scramble for new bikes. After seven kilometres, a large group of 28 riders jumped clear but they couldn't hold it and the peloton came back together by the end of the first lap.
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The fast pace made it difficult for anybody to make a successful breakaway bid, while riders were continuously dropped off the back. With two laps to go, what began as an 80-rider peloton was seriously reduced in numbers. More riders tried and failed to snap the elastic as the nations began gearing up for the bunch sprint. Germany and the United States of America did a lot of work on the front.
Going into the last lap, the Italians took to the front, causing the bunch to stretch out around the twisting course. Balsamo was brought into the perfect position on the front of the bunch by her teammates. She then kicked hard to move ahead of her rivals. Her advantage was sufficient that she could celebrate several metres before the line, thumping the air with delight.
The gold medal caps off a strong season for Balsamo, who finished second at the junior Gent-Wevelgem, won the junior national title and finished second to Liane Lippert at the European Championships. She is also the current Omnium and team pursuit world champion on the track.
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