Amber Neben (USA) - Gold, Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) - Silver, Katrin Garfoot (Australia) - Bronze …

11 October 2016 – Doha, Qatar : Highlights of the press conference with gold medal winner Amber Neben (USA), silver medal winner Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) and bronze medal winner Katrin Garfoot (Australia).

Amber Neben (USA) - gold
On the difference between this and her 2008 World Title :
“This one is more special, simply because the journey over the last eight years. After I won I 2008, I had a series of two or three years with really bad accidents, having to get up and not giving up multiple times. I’m almost at the end of my career and then come back from that and fight through it and still be here has been special. God’s blessed me with a victory and I’m humble.”

On sitting in the hot seat watching the other challenge her time :
“That is probably the hardest part of the day. The racing obviously is hard, but it’s hard while you do it and you enjoy the pain much more than sitting in the hot seat and having to watch the other coming so close. My heart skipped a few beats and I was really anxious.”

On the different courses in 2008 (hilly) and 2016 (flat) :
“If you had to pick a course that was all of my weaknesses, it was this course. So it was a huge challenge for me to prepare for it, and again, sometimes ’the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strengths’ and for me, any course put strength beyond me today.”

On where she will go from here :
“I will race a little bit next year. I’d like to target some big races. I also like to start a team in the US to pair with my UCI team to help some younger riders. And also I’d like to talk about some issues, that potentially young high school girls might have with depression and use our stories as athletes to help those people. I have the passion in my heart to be able to encourage young people to set goals to persevere.”

Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) - silver
On whether she is satisfied with silver :
“I am satisfied, because I left it all out there on the course. Silver is silver and Amber was simply better. Yeah, I won’t say I happy with it, but satisfied, I have to be satisfied.”
On whether this is redemption after fourth place at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro :
“In Rio I was close to the gold, but I screwed it up myself, but this time, I would have loved to take the rainbow stripes, but I didn’t. It’s a Time Trial, I love the Time Trial because it’s such an honest discipline, the best girl wins and today that was Amber.”

On what she could have done better :
“There are always things you can improve, my corners were not perfect , but it’s not that something went dramatically wrong like in Rio, so this was it for today.”
On the difference between Amber Neben and herself :
“I think the difference is pretty obvious, which is funny because you see a lot of different body types do well on this course. The difference was six seconds.”

Katrin Garfoot (Australia) - bronze
On having won in the Ladies Tour of Qatar earlier this year :
“Yes, I like racing in Qatar, which was a pleasant surprise to me. I also like how welcoming we are treated by the Qatari’s, thanks very much.”

On the taste of her medal :
“Happy to be on the podium this year, since I failed by three seconds last year. I wish it was a bit better, just above eight seconds. But I’m happy to learn from that for next year.”

On being informed about intermediate times during the race :
“This was the first race where I asked to know the time gaps from the radio. Just because I thought that I could win here. It was good to know the time gaps, I knew I was about fourth or third, about thirteen seconds down and at the last split about 18 seconds down, so that helped me a lot to fight for it.”

On race conditions :
“Obviously it was challenging because of the weather, but there was a lot of shade when I was on. It did not feel as hot any more as the way it actually felt when I was in warm-up so I was glad for that, but I was well prepared.“

On preparation for the heat :
“That’s a funny one because I was in Switzerland for the last few weeks. I had four degrees. I tried to do some heat accommodation in the bathroom, which had 21 degrees and I wore a rain jacket and was sweating. But I didn’t like that. So it probably wasn’t worth it.”

On her expectations for the Road Race :
“Personally not sure what I expect from my race. I have to wait for the others to arrive. We had a pre-plan but we’ll have to see what happens.”
On what’s next after the World Championships :
“First of all I want to go home to my husband.”

On The Pearl as a venue :
“I expected the course to be more technical than it actually was. The roundabouts were actually quit light and you carry a lot of speed. Personally I’m not the best in those corners.”

Samantha Sanders (South Africa) - 32nd place
The heat was tough, but I gave it my best shot. The race was very well organised and I’m glad i competed here.

Nada Aljeraiwi (Kuwait) - 40th place
It was windy and it was hot, and it was difficult to ride with a headscarf. But I’m proud I did. This is my first world championships. I definitely hope it won’t be my last.

Anna Turvey (Ireland) - 28th place
The course was hot and windy and not ideally suited for me. But I’m happy with how I did under the circumstances.

Varvara Fasoi (Greece) - 31st place
Although windy conditions are not ideal for ITT, today under the heat I felt the wind was on my side. At the Greek champs the ITT course is 10 km shorter, therefore I am not used to ride in distances like this. I am the sole female road rider of that level in my country and I don’t have a team to support me, so coming here and competing at the World Champs feels great. My goal for the RR is to finish the race.

Najla Aljeraiwi (Kuwait) - 38th place
The race was tough. I felt the U-turn was not marked properly and that gave me some problems. But I’m happy to be in Qatar with my sister Nada, who also competed.

Hannah Barnes (UK) - 14th place
It would have been good to be on the podium, but that’s OK. It felt great to race and I think I gave it my best shot. I couldn’t have tried any harder.

Beatha Ingabire (Rwanda) - 39th place
This race was way too hard. I didn’t have much preparation and that too acted against me. But I’m happy I could compete in the World Championships.

Sheyla Gutierrez Ruiz (Spain) - 30th place
The circuit was tough and with lots of twists and turns. It was difficult to ride it.

Elena Cecchini (Italy) - 15th place
This was my first time with the national team, so I didn’t know what to expect. I had been here for 10 days so I thought it would help me. But it was really hot today.I hope to do better on Saturday.

Hayley Simmonds (UK) - 25th place
I’m pretty upset with the way I rode. I truly believe I’m better than what I did here today. I didn’t do myself justice.

Audrey Cordon (France) - 22nd place
I did quite well in the first lap, but I couldn’t keep the rhythm in the second. My leg got stuck due to the heat and I couldn’t pull through. I knew I had to go fast, but after the first lap, there was no way I could do it.

Lotta Lepisto (Finland) - 11th place
The course was very technical and the wind kept changing. If it was tail wind in the first round and a head wind from then on. But I’m focusing on Saturday, so this was good practice.

Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada) - 19th place
It was a hard and technical course. It was challenging because I couldn’t find the rhythm. I’m just focusing on Saturday, bit i can say it’s going to be another challenging day.
Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands) - 13th place
I don’t blame the heat. It was the same for everybody. I had a long season and I wanted to do well in Doha as well. But unfortunately that didn’t happen. That’s how it’s.

Annemiek van Vleuten (The Netherlands) - 5th place
I was a little bit too concerned about the heat and went slow in the first round to conserve my energy. I shouldn’t have. I know I could’ve done better because I made up a lot of time in the second round. This just wasn’t my race.

Katrin Garfoot (Australia) - Bronze
I had followed the under-23 race and had seen that a lot of riders had struggled in the last 6 km. I wanted to avoid that. So my pacing in the first round was totally off. But I made up a lot of time and was good enough for a bronze. I’m happy.

Amber Neben (USA) - Winner
I had a lot of nerve wracking moments on the hot seat. It was a long time to spend there. I went all out from the start. In the end, it all came down to God’s grace.

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