Bego and Philipsen take the first rainbows on the roads of Glasgow

The third day of competition in the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships saw the Junior stars battle for the first rainbow jerseys in the road competition. France’s Julie Bego and Denmark’s Albert Philipsen took the glory.

The Junior road races were the first road events of the combined 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships taking in place in Glasgow and across Scotland through until 13 August.

Women Junior: Bego in the footsteps of Ferrand-Prévot

Thirteen years after Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, France has once again risen to the top of women’s cycling in the Junior category. Julie Bego, 18, won the first rainbow jersey in the road races in the streets of Glasgow, nine seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Cat Ferguson and Belgium’s Fleur Moors.

Over five laps of a technical circuit on the streets of Glasgow (70km), 98 riders from 36 nations battled in a race of attrition. Defending champions Great Britain set a demanding pace from the first pedal strokes to try and launch Cat Ferguson to glory. But the favourite to succeed Zoe Bäckstedt stumbled against the magnificent French team.

Bego’s teammates initiated a first acceleration through Ema Comte. The peloton was down to around 40 riders when they crossed the finish line for the first time. It took until the third lap to see a rider make a difference. Julie Bego went on the attack on the ascent of Montrose Street, with its brutal percentages (up to 14%). Carys Lloyd (GBR) then isolated herself but was never more than seven seconds ahead of the favourites.

The French then stood out with a strategic masterclass to knock out their opponents. Titia Ryo accelerated 34 kilometres from the finish, then Celia Gery imitated her 10 kilometres further into the race. Taking advantage of the work of her teammates, Bego made a decisive attack on the fourth lap, when there were still 22 kilometres to go, then maintained a steady effort to clinch the solo victory.

"I am very happy. I trained very hard. I've been thinking about the UCI World Championships for six months. I was afraid I might be doing too much but I had an incredible team. I may not have been the strongest today but I had the strongest team in the world,” the new UCI Junior World Champion said.

Men Junior: Albert Philipsen soars to glory on Montrose Street

In the Men Junior race, Denmark’s Albert Philipsen achieved an impressive feat. The 16-year-old, still in his first year as a Junior, took off on the penultimate climb of Montrose Street to distance his six companions at the head of the race, with nearly 100 kilometres of breakaway behind them already. Launched by his teammate Theodor Storm, Philipsen opened a gap of more than a minute to triumph ahead of Paul Fietzke (GER) and Felix Ørn-Kristoff (NOR).

On the same urban circuit in the centre of Glasgow, 154 riders competed over a distance of 129.6 kilometres without Andrew August (USA), who had to withdraw due to illness.

Norway, Great Britain, Denmark and Italy were the most determined to battle from far away, until the Norwegians launched the decisive move with 100 kilometres to go. A strong breakaway of three, then four and finally seven riders managed to take off: Felix Ørn-Kristoff (younger brother of Alexander Kristoff), Jørgen Nordhagen (NOR), Albert Philipsen, Theodor Storm (DEN), Paul Fietzke (GER), Matthew Brennan (GBR) and Juan David Sierra (ITA).

With a gap that quickly rose to 40 seconds, the peloton never managed to get back to the front of the race. The seven attackers collaborated perfectly to increase their lead, until the penultimate ascent of Montrose Street and Philipsen’s decisive attack. Fietzke and Ørn-Kristoff dropped their rivals with five kilometres to go to compete for the podium ahead of the Italian Juan David Sierra, victim of a mechanical incident.

“We had to be offensive and slip into the breakaways if possible,” Philipsen described. “We worked well as a team. It’s a dream for me to win, what happened is totally crazy."

After a spectacular first day, Scottish roads have an appointment on Sunday with the stars of the discipline. The Men Elite road race will start from Edinburgh 9.30am local time.