EVIE RICHARDS was all smiles despite failing to retain her cyclocross World Championship title in Luxembourg on Saturday.
The Malvern rider, who last year became the first ever under-23 women’s world champion, battled hard in Bieles to reach the podium for a second consecutive year, picking up a bronze medal in the process.
Richards, alongside close Dutch rival Annemarie Worst, came into the race as major contenders and the two showed from the off why they were heavily fancied.
With two laps gone, Richards pulled away from Worst but the incredible pace of the race proved too much for the 2016 world champion.
USA’s Ellen Noble closed the gap on the leading pair before Richards was unable to keep in touch with American and Worst who pulled away from the young British rider.
Despite this, Richards continued to battle, making the difficult conditions look easy at time, to come home in third after Worst won the battle with Noble to become world champion.
As Richards crossed the line, the smile on her face was there for everybody to see as she claimed Great Britian Cycling Team’s fourth medal of the championships.
Richards said: “It feels amazing. Every time I get on the podium, it’s really special so I’m over the moon to get another medal.
“It [the race] was really interesting. The course, when I went out this morning, was really slippy and really icy so I was struggling to get round.
“When I came to race, it had really changed, it had got muddier, so I really had to adapt.”
Richards’ teammates Ffion James and Amira Mellor finished 11th and 31st respectively.