After bringing home Great Britain’s first-ever esports cycling medal last year with a third-place finish, this year Zoe Langham went one better to take the silver medal in the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.
The 17-strong Great Britain team faced an all-new format, identical for both the men’s and women’s events, which included three gruelling races - The Punch, The Climb and The Podium - eliminating riders after each stage.
In the women’s race, Langham took third-place finishes in the first two races, putting her in a strong position ahead of The Podium finale. Last year’s bronze medallist held on through the elimination sprints, until eventually being outsprinted in the final leg as Dutch rider Loes Adegeest dropped a Zwift tactic known as the 'burrito power up' to take her second world title.
On her silver medal, Langham said, “I came into this week quite unwell, so I was really happy to get to the start line. There was absolutely no mercy out there tonight! The field has seriously stepped up as it does year after year, I’m so proud of the GB team as I am every year. If you’d asked me what I’d been happy with at the start of tonight, if I’d made it past the first race I’d have been ecstatic so it’s been a fantastic night.”
Teammates Lucy Harris, Mary Wilkinson and Lizi Brooke also delivered strong rides working to support Langham, but didn’t quite make it to the final race. Brooke just missed out on The Podium race with an 11th place finish while Lou Bates unfortunately had to withdraw with a mechanical.
Hayley Simmonds, Alice Lethbridge, Rachel Brown, Natalie Stevenson, Charlotte Colclough, Adele Battersby and Ruth Shier were all eliminated in the first race.
In the men’s event Andy Nichols delivered the best result, making it through to the second race, The Climb, where he put in a valiant effort but ultimately left the race in 19th position.
In the first round, Ed Laverack launced an attack in an attempt to avoid a sprint finish and give himself the best chance of progressing to the next stage, but unfortunately he wasn't able to hold on and was eliminated, as was teammate Ben Russell. Jimmy Kershaw and Joseph Rees also left the competition after the first round, having competed in the final in person in Glasgow, ahead of the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland in August this year.
