Amalie Dideriksen surprised even herself when she beat Kirsten Wild to take victory in the women's road race at the World Championships last October. Wild had been the overwhelming favourite heading into Qatar and was backed by the always enviably strong Dutch squad, but the 20-year-old Dideriksen, who had just two teammates and had won just one race that season, played it perfectly and accelerated past her rival with 100 metres to go.
On the Boels Dolmans team website, Dideriksen states that her personal ambition for 2017 is to prove that the win was no 'fluke'.
"I think mostly to myself," she tells Cyclingnews from her home in Denmark. "Of course, I want to prove to everyone else that I belong at the top of women's cycling and that I can be a better sprinter in the future."
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Dideriksen came into the professional ranks with some serious pedigree, after becoming one of the few riders to win back to back junior world titles. However, this was the real deal, the biggest victory of her fledgeling career, and it has taken some time to sink in.
"I've dreamed about it for the future so to do it now was like 'wow'. I talked to Julie Leth, one of my Danish teammates, and she was like, 'This isn't a junior one Amalie, this is the senior one.' It's really the right one this time," says Dideriksen. "Winning the junior title was huge for me, but then you get into the senior category, and the juniors aren't so big. When I won the junior one, I wanted to get in the elite [level] because they can always wear the stripes on their sleeve. To be able to do it was crazy."
In her first year as junior world champion, Dideriksen got to wear the rainbow bands all season, but she turned professional the year after her second title and so couldn't ride in the jersey. Keen to get as much time as possible in the rainbow stripes this time around, she has been training in the jersey over the winter. Riding in the colours of the world champion brings with it added attention, and she's noticed a lot more people saying hello when she's out training.
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