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‘It’s not really sunk in yet’ – Cuminestown’s Neah Evans claims first major indivdual title to become world champion

Britain's Neah Evans celebrates after winning the Women's Points race final at the Track Cycling World Championship in  Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, west of Paris, France.
Britain's Neah Evans celebrates after winning the Women's Points race final at the Track Cycling World Championship in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, west of Paris, France.

Cuminestown cyclist Neah Evans claimed her first major individual title by winning the women’s points race at the Track Cycling World Championships in Paris.

The 32-year-old brought home Britain’s third rainbow jersey of the championships and helped take Great Britain’s medal tally to 10.

Evans said: “It feels brilliant – it’s not really sunk in yet. I’m full of adrenaline and excitement from the race, but delighted.”

Neah Evans of Great Britain after taking the victory. 

The Scot started confidently, winning the first sprint to take an initial five points.

The next few sprints saw Evans, defending champion Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky, and USA’s Jennifer Valente tussle between the top three places on the leaderboard.

A shock lap-take from Denmark’s Julie Leith shook up the race and boosted her into the lead ahead of Evans.

A chase group of six riders, including Evans, also managed to take a lap and restored Evans to her initial lead.

However, this wasn’t for long as Leith took another lap and another 20 points with just eight laps to go, retaking the overall lead again and putting pressure on the front of the following group.

In a sensational show in the penultimate lap, the chaser group of Evans, Valente, and Kopecky fought back hard and managed to make it across the gap, putting Evans back into first position with just one lap to go.

Giving it everything she had, Evans sprinted over the line to roars from the crowd as she earned her first world title.

Britain’s Neah Evans celebrates after winning the Women’s Points race final in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, west of Paris, France. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

After the race, Evans said: “I felt I had good legs.

I had a game plan and I was quite confident but the first lap went and I was chasing a bit and we kind of all got it and I was like ‘right back in control, this is alright!’

“Then Julie went again and I was like ‘oh dear’.

Neah Evans of Great Britain on the podium after taking the victory. 

“I knew I had good legs at that point but it was really difficult because she’d got such a good gap quite early and it was difficult to judge and to get people to work with me rather than just drag them. There was a lot happening.

“They rang the bell and then we had one and I wasn’t sure whether it was because we’d got the lap or what it was so I was thinking ‘just keep going’.

“It wasn’t quite the magical moment that you sometimes dream of but it doesn’t matter.”

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