Nearly two hours after the women's U23 race at the 2022 UCI Cyclocross World Championships ended, tears of frustration still came easily for bronze medalist Femme van Empel.

The 19-year-old former soccer player huddled in a corner with her mother, trying to steady her shaky voice as she waited for the press conference to begin.

"Top sports can be very difficult," his mother commiserates.

Hours earlier, as the winter sun warmed the Fayetteville course, defending champion Van Empel was in line with compatriots Pak Peterse and Shirin van Anlooy as the top three candidates for the U23 title.

Barring any surprises, the podium was set. The battle was now over for the order in which these three Dutchwomen would cross the finish line.

Van Ambrooy was recognized for her diesel engine, Pieterse for her speedy uphill legs and excellent technical ability, and van Empel for her all-around speed and experience in the Rainbow Band.

"There was a lot of pressure to get all three of us on the podium. But [all three] wanted to race honestly and have a good battle."

The team's tactics were simple. The team's tactic was simple: "Don't get in each other's way unnecessarily. We were all very happy with the results."

"We were all very happy with the results.

"We knew beforehand that the three of us were the strongest, but if different players had come between us, we would have had to play tactical games."

It was French rider Amandine Fouquenet who led the 23 riders from the paved road into the woods. Pieterse and Van Emmelooy followed her, but Van Emmel had trouble early on.

Her Di2-equipped bike went into crash mode, the team staff later explained. This meant that Van Empel had to ride a roller coaster course in single gear until she could change bikes in the pits. But she persevered.

Foucenet, her compatriot Rhine Bourquier, and Marie Schreiber of Luxembourg could not keep up with Van Empeluy's pace, and Van Empel steadily moved up the order to catch up with her two compatriots.

Pieters picked up the pace on every uphill and descended at breakneck speed, but Van Ambrooy held on. With two and a half laps to go, Van Empel was back in front, and the promised three-way battle began.

It was anyone's race at this point. Pieterse was burning matches to shake off van Emmeloy, who had set the pace in the first few laps, and van Emmel was spending a lot of time chasing him down. How much extra time did she have?

Neither Puck nor Van Ambrooy would have wanted to take the speedy Van Empel to the final. But it was not to be.

On a tricky, steep berm where many riders had stumbled in the previous race, Pieterse stopped suddenly, causing a pile-up.

"My rear wheel slipped," Pieterse told Cycling News. "It was really dry up there, and I kept getting passed [by others] on the inside, so I thought, 'I should sit more to the left.' But that wasn't the ideal line anymore, and the rear wheel slipped."

Van Enroy jumped on Peeters' rear wheel. Van Amrooy drove van Empel out. By the time Van Emlooy clipped back and started moving again, Pieterse had put the sun on her.

"On the previous lap, I really pushed out of the corner because the first one out of that corner always took the gap. But Shirin came right back," Pieterse said.

As the two continued to ride, Van Empel dropped her chain and stopped to fiddle with her bike. Her fight for the gold medal was over.

"I lost a lot of time [due to mechanical trouble] and I think I lost the jersey today," Van Empel commented.

As in the elite women's race the previous afternoon, the decisive battle came down to the last few hundred meters. Neither of them was confident in their sprints, and Pieters and van Unrooy played cat-and-mouse in the finale.

"To be honest, it was stressful," Pieters said. 'I didn't think we could close the gap anymore. There was a really big gap after that bump and I was stuck there with Femme. I ran up the stairs harder than I had ever run before. Then we closed the gap, and then it was stressful. I didn't want it to be a sprint race and it was. I think I waited a little too long. Having learned from the sprint in the previous race, Pieters wanted to be in second place when the dirt turned to pavement"

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"I couldn't let Shirin pass me. And I knew that Femme was chasing me. I also had the sprint from Flamanville in the back of my mind, so I didn't want it to be a sprint," the 19-year-old said.

"When there was a gap, I just went as fast as I could. Going into the sprint, I didn't have really good legs anymore, but I'm glad it worked out."

Rainbows for Pieters and tears for the other two youngsters. The lower medal and the Dutch sweep of the podium were a small consolation.

But this nail-biting race showed the high level of this new generation of cyclocrossers and their bright and very orange future.