The group she was in may have been swamped at the line, but 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Elinor Barker still stood out at Gent-Wevelgem, recording her beﷺst result in a WorldTour race as her return from maternity leave gathers pace.
The British rider effectively missed her first season with 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Uno-X Women Pro Cycling Team in 2022 after becoming pregnant with her first child in the summer of 2021. She once again paid tribute to her 'open-minded' tea🍌m as she re-launched her road career in style.
Barker has always favoured the track, with Olympic gold already to her name but is now giving the road a ꦯcrack for the first time in her career. It was supposed to happen in 2022 but she's making up for lost time.
"It's really nice to be back," a shivering Barker told Cyclingnews after a rain-soaked edition of the prestigious Spring C🐬lassic. "I'm not sure where I came, to be honest, but that was definitely my best result in a WorldTour race."
Indeed it was, with seventh place trumping her previous best of 28th from a stage of the 2018 Emakumeen Bira. It might have been even🏅 better, though.
Barker survived the Kemmelberg before jumping into a strong attack with 15km to go, which was never going to catch 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:solo winner Marlen Reusser (Tea🍒m SD Wor▨x) but looked li🍨ke a group for podium contention until they were rounded upon by the main bunch in🔯side the final kilometre.
Still, Barker managed to sprint to seventh place, which, given four of the five riders who b༒eat her in that sprint came from the back, indicates a podium finish had been on the cards.
"That was a pretty horrifi🔯c day - just so cold," Barker said, barely able to get her words out through chattering teeth.
"It was hard to say I really enjoyed i﷽t. It was type 2 kind of fun - I'll probably see it differently when I'm warm. 🍷;
"It was really fun to be attackingꦰ and to be in that group, though. It's frustrating not to stay away at the end but it's all good. It was just nice to be up there."
Barker made a trio of sporadic road racing appearances last year, before returning to the track for the first time as a mother at the European Champion🀅ships last month. She kicked off her roa💛d season at the Vuelta CV and Volta Comunitat Valenciana before a pair of semi-classics at Le Samyn and Nokere Koerse.
Gent-Wevelgem represented a major step up, in terms of distance, competition and Barker's own performance. She'll now look ahead with confidence to Wednesday's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Dwars door Vlaanderen and Sunday's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour of Flanders, but she'l𒉰l also reflect on the journey she's been on.
"It reall🌱y has been a journey. It's been a tough year but really amazing year," she said. "My little boy turned one the other day, so it's nice to celebrate that and be here in the Classics and be u🌃p there in the Classics.
"The team has been so unbelievably supportive," she added, referring to way Uno-X have hono꧑ured her contꦚract above and beyond UCI requirements.
"This🔴 would look so different if they weren't as open minded, I think. They do things a lot differently to how other teams ⛎and other employers do things. It also gives me a lot of motivation. So far it's working really well."
