Copenhagen 2011: Great Britain's Lucy Garner wins gold in junior women's road race

Lucy Garner has won Britain’s first gold medal of the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen in the junior women’s road race. In a hard fought finale, Garner kept her composure as Belgium’s Jessy Druyts drifted across her line before launching her sprint to clinch the rainbow jersey. Christina Siggaard of Denmark finished third.

Garner had crashed earlier on in the race but in the end won the sprint by several bike lengths after coming through the bunch from nowhere, and had time to celebrate, a huge smile on her face, as she crossed the line.

The 16-year-old from Leicestershire who rides for Motorpoint has burst onto the senior women’s scene in the UK this year with victories in cluding the Cheshire Classic and second place overall in the new Johnson Health Tech Women's Grand Prix Series, winning the closing round in Woking.

After crossing the line to take the world title today, Garner, nails painted with the union flag to match her GB jersey, said: “It feels amazing... I can’t actually describe how it feels. There were two riders up the road and I didn’t think they were going to catch them.

“Our team did so well early on, attacking, making all the moves, and trying to get them back,” she added. “I rode the course before, so I knew where the finish was, a lot of the girls went quite early, but I knew that if I went early I’d blow. So I just paced myself and managed to get it.”

Racing continues this afternoon with the men’s Under-23 road race.