Great Britain win first ever mixed relay title at Cyclo-cross World Championships

Great Britain got off to a golden start at this year's UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, earning the nation's first-ever victory in the mixed relay on Friday.

The team of Zoe Bäckstedt, Cat Ferguson, Thomas Mein, Oscar Amey, Zoe Roche and Milo Wills won by just two seconds ahead of the Italian sextet in Liévin, France.

Great Britain had finished second in the event in the previous two editions of the championships.

The mixed relay is a six-lap event in which nations compete in teams of six, composed of elite, under-23 and junior riders. It is up to the teams to decide their own racing order.

This year's race proved a close-fought affair, with five seconds separating first-placed Great Britain and third-placed France on the podium. The US, having led into the final lap, finished fourth, eight seconds down.

Bäckstedt opened the effort for Great Britain, the only female to do so across all 10 starting nations. The Brits sat in seventh place at the halfway point, when the two newly crowned junior national champions, Roche and Amey, exchanged the baton.

Seventeen-year-old Amey then catapulted his team into second place, before handing over to Ferguson, who held on to a podium position.

Mein, a former national champion and the only elite rider in the squad, led the charge on the final lap, where he clocked the team's fastest time. The 26-year-old's winning margin of two seconds gave him enough time to sit up and salute his teammates, who celebrated together beyond the line.

"I was feeling a bit nervous as there were quite a lot of elite riders on the last lap, so it wasn't going to be an easy ride home," Mein said afterwards.

"I had two in front, some wheels to chase, but it was just about trying to hit every line correctly like we did in practice and trying to be smooth with it, to not get full of the pressure of the last lap.

"Heading over the finish line first was an incredible feeling," he added.

The mixed relay marked the opening event of this year's UCI Cylo-cross World Championships.

The competition continues on Saturday with the junior women's, under-23 men's and elite women's races. Sunday will then bring the junior men's, under-23 women's and elite men's races.

There will be no British riders competing in the under-23 men's or elite women's races. According to British Cycling, this is because "there were no riders who met [the] objectives strongly enough to be selected" for the two events.

Bäckstedt, the defending under-23 world champion, will vie to keep her title on Sunday, despite being eligible to compete in the elite race as the fourth best ranked woman in the world.

"I don’t want to jump too early into elite and potentially regret my decision," the 20-year-old said, "so I decided this year that I will battle for the under-23 title.

"It’s going to be super-tough and super-close racing, but I’m really excited to push for that title again and see what I can do."