Van Anrooij after second place in the U23 category: "I promised other Dutch ladies that I would help them"

Twice silver, that's what the Netherlands got to take back to the bus after the Women's Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. In addition to Demi Vollering in the elite category, Shirin van Anrooij secured second place in the under-23 race, although she couldn't fully commit to it. And that led to mixed feelings, she said after the race to IDLProCycling.com.

The women who have not yet reached the age of 23 participated in the elite race, making it a race within a race. In a group sprinting for eleventh place, Hungary's Blanka Vas eventually won the rainbow jersey in the U23 category, ahead of Van Anrooij and Anna Shackley from Great Britain.

"It was a tough race," the Dutch rider responded. "I didn't feel good at the beginning of the race, so I was dropped early on. Right then, I thought it was over and done with, and I wouldn't be able to get back. We couldn't even see the cars anymore. I was with Marianne Vos and Lorena Wiebes, and they said we should let the others do the work, but nobody really did anything."

"However, I knew that we wanted to fight for the rainbow jersey with Demi Vollering, so I told Marianne that I was going to put the pedal to the medal. We had to try, as we could still help with positioning," said the Lidl-Trek rider. "That's how I fought my way back before we reached the local laps. Eventually, I ended up in a group with Blanka and Anna, so at that moment, I realized it was about the U23 title. Blanka was too fast, though; I didn't have much power left in my legs."

Van Anrooij is happy that U23 Women will have their own race from 2025

That race within the race, mentally, must not be so easy? "Indeed, every country approaches it differently," she explains. "As the Netherlands, we're really strong, so we were aiming for the elite title. I promised the other ladies that I would help them, which I did. But in doing so, I drained myself completely. The other Dutch ladies knew that I would have had a better chance if I could have saved myself, so it was a mixed feeling. In the end, I'm mainly proud that I was able to help as best I could."

"When we were dropped, I asked Riejanne Markus if I could recover a bit and go for my title," Van Anrooij explains. "It's just not really justifiable that there's a race within the race, as it's so different for everyone. I'm glad it's going to be organized differently from 2025," she looks ahead to the year when the U23 women will have their own race.