Great Britain’s Erin Boothman placed fifth in the women’s junior time trial at the UCI Road World Championships on Tuesday, after her foot came undone from her pedal on the final ascent to the line.
The Brit had, until then, stormed through the 18.3km course in Kigali, Rwanda. The last out of the start gate, she began her effort as the race favourite, and crossed the only time check third fastest, two seconds behind the race’s ultimate winner, Megan Arens (Netherlands). Second-place Oda Aune Gissinger (Norway) was just six hundredths of a second faster than the Brit at the same point.
But it was at the base of the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura that Boothman’s pace was curtailed. Accidentally unclipping from her pedal, the 18-year-old stuck out her leg to balance herself, losing precious time on the final climb, before stomping her foot back in and powering up the hill, finishing in fifth.
“11 seconds off a medal is a hard one to take,” Boothman wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday morning.
“This tough course was perfect, the pacing was executed perfectly by myself and my coach throughout my ride, and I was ready for the battle as there were 2 seconds separating us top 3 at the time check.”
“A turn of bad luck and I was at a stand still and getting myself going again at the steepest point on the cobbles. [There are] some huge positives which I’m sure looking back I will be super proud of, but for now it is a hard one to swallow.”
A four-time junior track world champion, the Scottish teenager has impressed on the road this season, winning the Clásica de Jaén UCI Nations Cup round and the junior Gent-Wevelgem. Next season, she will join Liv AlUla Jayco’s development team full-time, before stepping up to the WorldTour squad for 2027 and 2028.
“This is my last year as a junior, and I didn’t get to ride [Worlds] last year, so I definitely came here to try and win and add to my collection, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m absolutely gutted, but you learn from these things,” Boothman told Cyclingnews in Rwanda.
“But hey, 5th in the world is not too shabby,” she concluded in her Instagram post. “None of this takes away from an insane ride from Megan Arens – you earnt that.”
Boothman will also compete in Saturday’s junior women’s road race, where she will once again be among the favourites for the rainbow jersey. The race is scheduled to start at 7:20 (BST), and takes place on an undulating 74km course, with 1,473m of climbing.
