EVIE Richards timed her sprint to perfection to become short track world champion for Great Britain at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra.
The Malvern cyclist beat Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot in a ferocious elite women’s short track race.
Richards adds the short track world title to the cross county gold she won back in 2021.
Richards said: “I really can’t believe it. I wanted to win so badly. Honestly, when she [Ferrand Prevot] stayed on my wheel, I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back again’ but I just waited until the sprint. I didn’t think that last bit was long enough, but it obviously was. I can’t believe it, I’m so happy.
“I was just like ‘just stay on her wheel and I’ve been sprinting so much. I’ve been here three weeks training at altitude so I knew if it would come down to a sprint, I’d be okay as I’d practiced it so much. I was just hoping that I could take it, but I really didn’t think it would happen. I just had to keep believing in myself.”
The 27-year-old placed fifth in the mountain bike event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a superb achievement after she sustained a concussion injury in the lead up to the event.
Richards fired off the start line in Andorra from the second row and sprinted out of the first bend to position herself in the top-10.
The first kilometre time check saw Richards in fifth place as France’s Ferrand-Prevot looked to ride away with ease.
She moved into fourth on the climb and glued herself to the wheel of Dutch rider Puck Pieterse as the pair rode away from the main group.
Richards trailed the leading pair by seven seconds at the halfway point and eventually moved past Pieterse on the fifth climb to close in on Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds.
Descending with ease, the Malvern rider closed the gap quickly to sit third with four laps remaining and overtook Rissveds to move up to second.
Richards put in another attack up the climb to tear past Olympic champion Ferrand-Prevot and take the lead.
She continued to put the power down on the descent as Ferrand-Prevot lingered on Richards’ wheel.
However, Richards kept her cool at the front and took the bell still in the lead.
Ferrand-Prevot attacked up the final climb and briefly moved past Richards who stayed within touching distance.
Richards closed the gap on the descent in a tense battle for gold and sprinted hard around the final bend to power over the line and take the world title.
The Malvern cyclist then recovered from an early crash to ride to an impressive sixth-place finish in the elite women’s cross-county race.
Richards suffered a heavy fall on the first rocky descent but jumped straight back on her bike as she dropped back to ninth.
She rose from ninth to sixth on the third lap to sit 17 seconds outside of the podium places.
Richards maintained her position as she took the bell and also picked up speed in the final lap to cross the line in sixth.
