Jasińska rounds off splendid 2018 with 5th in Worlds road race
29 September 2018

World Championships in Austria

Polish champion from Movistar Team shines with 50km break, with only Guderzo's (ITA) final-climb attack preventing her from fighting for a medal. Van der Breggen (NED) takes rainbow jersey, well ahead of silver medalist Spratt (AUS).

The Movistar Team’s most remarkable name in its debut season closed her 2018 season on a very high note. Małgorzata Jasińska offered the Telefónica-backed squad’s fans a brilliant, courageous race in the UCI World road race Championships, over 160km from Kufstein to Innsbruck (Austria) with three climbs to Igls (8km, 6% average) in its final circuit.

The Polish champion, initially her team’s second main hopeful behind Kasia Niewiadoma, joined the attacks forming about 50km from the end after the first climb. The five-woman attempt, including Amanda Spratt (AUS), soon opened a serious gap, yet at the second climb to Igls, a brutal acceleration from Anna Van der Breggen (NED) allowed her leaving the bunch behind -the main group including Spaniards Lorena Llamas, Eider Merino and Mavi García (eventually 19th at the finish)-; reach ‘Jasi’ down, her group holding a 1′ advantage before the move; and creating ever-growing gaps over Spratt, fellow breakaway member Coryn Rivera (AUS) and Jasińska, who crested the climb in fourth position.

The lack of cooperation behind made ‘Jasi’ dream of the medals, only escaping from her hands after a three-rider counter, including Karol-Ann Canuel (CAN) and Amy Pieters (NED), saw Tatiana Guderzo (ITA) surging at the last climb and anticipating a trio where Jasińska took 5th place. It’s still, though, a very good way to close the 2018 season for ‘Jasi’, the Pole back to the top group of elite riders in the peloton with her three victories and top-ten finishes in such diverse races as Veenendaal, Plumelec -2nd at both-, De Ronde (6th), Plouay (7th), Thüringen (8th) or the Euskal Bira (10th).

REACTION:

Małgorzata Jasińska (via Przeglad Sportowy): “The best result in my career? I can’t really say at this moment, with these intense feelings floating around. I’ve been really strong today, and didn’t know I would be able to cope so well with long climbs like today’s. It was a race for climbers, and I’m more of a classics specialist. I gave everything I had. The whole Polish team rode well, and I think we can leave happy about this result. One can ask if the tactics were completely right from our side, or whether it was worth ín my case to jump from so afar and spend so much energy. However, I did what my heart told me to. I might have pushed too hard into the opening climbs and that took its toll, but I’ve taken a fifth spot, this is my best result in the World Championships. It hurts to have been so close to a medal and not get it, but you can’t have everything.”

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net