MASSIVE Dutch drama at Gravel worlds as Shirin van Anrooij sees title chances ended by her own friend: "I just don't understand"

The Dutch were always the big favourite today's women's elite Gravel world championships race, but no-one would've expected the victory to happen in the way that it did. Shirin van Anrooij looked certain for the win, until she was chased down by compatriot Yara Kastelijn who looked to be working in the interest of Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos.

It is certain that in this race, riders were mostly racing individually. Nevertheless it was an unusual sight to see the Dutch chasing each other, even with the dominance they had over the rest of the competition. What was truly incomprehensible was the work of Yara Kastelijn in the final kilometers to bring back van Anrooij, not only catching her teammate who looked to be a certain winner but also ending her own chances of riding towards a medal.

Kastelijn is not a teammate of neither Vos or Wiebes, and even recently she was roommates with van Anrooij at the World Championships. Van Anrooij was heartbroken at the finish line: "I feel like I've been a team player all these years. I just don't understand why it has to be closed down now. It's clear: if someone is leading the race who is certain to become world champion and who comes from the same country, you let them go," she said in words to NOS.

Trying to contain herself, but the Lidl-Trek rider did not hide that she had no understanding of what Kastelijn was doing or why that happened: "I understand that everyone wants to go for the title, but Persico still finished third. Otherwise, we would have been one, two, three. So yeah, I'm just really disappointed."

This tactical move hurt even more taking into consideration the closeness of the two, compatriots and occasional rivals in cyclocross as well where both are top-level riders. "We were roomies at the World Championship. I just don't get it. It's logical that [Silvia] Persico and [Julia] Kopecky are chasing then." But that was not the case, with Persico even being able to finish ahead of the two women who spent the last kilometers in the wind.

"Ultimately, I think I was strong enough to stay ahead of them and become world champion here. I don't want to say too much about it; I don't want to say anything wrong. But I think this was my chance at the world title, and it was taken away from me," the 23-year old added.

"I don't think we've ever had such a great team spirit with the Dutch team at the last World Championships and European Championship. I understand that there are a lot of Dutch players here and that everyone ultimately wants to go for the title. I have nothing more to say about it," she concluded.