WATER WORLDS
Behind the scenes of a stormy Yorkshire
01 Rainbow stripes Women's Elite Race
Annemiek Van Vleuten solos to the ride of the weekend. Her palmarès is already outstanding and she has added the 2019 rainbow stripes to last year's TT victory and her bronze in this year's Race of Truth. Chapeau indeed.
02 Tweed meets lycra U23 Men's Race
The flatcap was a pleasantly regular sight during the Worlds. All too often British fans can be outdone by our European neighbours, but the steadfast reliance on traditional Yorkshire headgear and tea was a mainstay of this year's event.
03 Beers on wheels Coach and Horses pub
Harrogate has a long history of cycling enthusiasm. The Coach and Horses pub just past the finish line was consistently the busiest bar of the weekend!
04 No need to crawl Zwift Draft House
The only organised pub crawl that I found consisted of four stops. Although considering the fine local, Dutch and Belgian ales on tap at the Zwift Draft House, most people just stopped there.
05 Popular podcast Watts Occurring
Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe were relaxed the day before the Men's Elite Race and hosted a live podcast at Zwift HQ – the queue was out the door of one of the most popular side-events.
06 Right to the end Women's U23 Race
American and Russian riders in the Women's U23 Race struggling to stay ahead of the chasing pack up the deceptively steep start of the finishing straight on Parliament Street.
07 Agonisingly close Men's U23 Race
For me, the moment of the championships as Tom Pidcock is hugged after being edged out in the last 50 meters of a brutal day in the saddle. He was absolutely gutted. It's easy to feel like a bit of a hack as a photographer at these moments of emotional drama, but as long as basic respect is shown I think documenting them is important. Although Tom would probably rather we weren’t there…
08 Cruel crash Women's U23 Race
Three hundred metres before the end of the Women's U23 Race, which had been marred by multiple crashes for the last half of the race, a large group of riders went down in front of big crowds. Most riders managed to remount and finished but five or six girls resorted to running their bikes up to the line a-laFroomey. Not the first victims of the inhospitable weather throughout the week and certainly not the last…
09 Uncommon person DJ Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker did his best to entertain the crowds on Saturday night in the semiaquatic fan zone. It wasn’t exactly Disco 2000 but his reggae/ska selections had everyone's heads nodding.
10 Steep support Norwood Edge
Some of the biggest crowds for the Women's Elite Road Race were found at Norwood Edge, who gave vocal support to some young club riders testing out the climb before the race arrived.
11 Done proper Help at hand
Proper racing, proper weather, proper volunteers.
12 Champ cheered Women's Elite Race
Annemiek Van Vleuten is congratulated by team mates and friends as the realisation of her incredible solo break starts to sink in. It was really on the last few laps of Harrogate that the crowd started to realise that local favourite Lizzy Deignan would be denied.
13 Well-prepared Travelling supporters
The aforementioned continental fans brought a real party atmosphere, singing their hearts out and were mostly the best prepared for the inclement weather! A group of 100 Dutch fans had blocked booked a hotel on the finish line months ago.
14 Baaaad conditions Men's Elite Race
The top of Kidstones was for only the most dedicated cycling fans – and sheep. Serious chill, winds and rain made their mark.
15 Last-minute laps Finishing circuit
The course had been altered for the men's race and two extra laps of the town were added to make up for the understandable loss of Buttertubs and Grinton Moor.
16 High-speed casualties Elite Men's Race
The wet corners had to be treated with respect and there were many fallers. One of the most notable was Philippe Gilbert, a pre-race favourite. He got up and had another go but it seemed to have knocked the fight out of one of cycling's toughest men.
17 Under umbrella Men's Elite Race
The rain didn't dampen the fans' support too much on Sunday, as they cheered on winner Mads Pedersen.