Evie Richards, 20, took first place in the World Cup Namur event as Brammeier took second and Lechner third.
The Trek Factory Racing girl gave an impressive performance at one of the most high-demanding races of the season to get her first World Cup win.
One the other hand, Boels-Dolmans’ girl and also British Champion, Nikki Brammeier, was able to join her home country girl on the podium finishing in second place as Italian, CLIF Pro Team champion, Eva Lechner, finished third during the sixth round of the World Cup event in Belgium.
Despite the obvious talent that the 2016 U23 cyclo-cross world winner, Richards, has, she admitted to be shocked from the yesterday’s victory and didn’t see it coming at all.
“Not at all. I’ve been off the bike for a bit just doing some other training. I had a bad knee. I’ve been injured. I didn’t race yesterday, I kept making mistakes in the last lap. I knew I was in front. It was so surreal. I hoped to get a top-10 today. I’m so happy and all my family is here. It’s a good race for them to come watching,” Richards said right after the race was over.
“I started quite far back because I haven’t been racing, I got into a couple of crashes. And I was just trying to move up like I did in the world championships a few years ago. I just didn’t know where I was. When I came through one of the laps I knew I was in fourth. I really couldn’t believe it. I was feeling good and I wanted to just keep moving up. When I overtook Katie Compton I was like wow, I just couldn’t believe it. Once It got to the front I wanted to keep pushing harder,” she added.
Namur: Evie Richards captures first elite #WorldCup https://t.co/RDJgOMRhJg pic.twitter.com/faC98kQ027
— Cycling News (@CyclingNewz) December 17, 2017
Full Race Results
1. Evie Richards (GBr) Trek Factory Racing – 0:38:49
2. Nikki Brammeier (GBr) Boels-Dolmans – 0:00:15
3. Eva Lechner (Ita) Clif Pro Team – 0:00:24
4. Katherine Compton (USA) Trek Factory Racing – 0:00:34
5. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) Canyon-Sram – 0:01:06
6. Kaitlin Keough (USA) – 0:01:08
7. Katerina Nash (Cze) Clif Pro Team – 0:01:14
8. Jolanda Neff (Swi) – 0:01:20
9. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Team Sunweb – 0:01:29
10. Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ita) Steylaerts – Betfirst – 0:01:34
