The UCI Road World Championships kicked off in Yorkshire on Sunday and the British team exceeded their own expectations with a bronze medal in the team time trial mixed relay, a perfect start for a home event.

"We didn't expect to win a medal," said the team leader. But we knew that teams like Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands were super strong." Dan Bingham said: according to Dan Bingham, "It was an unbeatable battle to keep it close."

"We had to win it,"

"We had to win it,"

"We had to win it,"

"We had to win it.

They did just that. In the men's leg, Tanfield, Dan Biggum, and John Archibald set the second fastest time on the winding and undulating 14 km Harrogate circuit.

"Everyone gave it their all. I don't think we could have done any better."

In the end, the Netherlands won last month's European Championships, as they did in the first event of the new TTT format, and the German women saved the men to take the silver medal. Italy, however, lost Elisa Longo Borghini to a puncture nearly halfway through the women's lap, finishing just eight seconds behind the British time.

No one looked away from Lady Luck's role in preventing Italy's strongest women, but the idea of home advantage was also well taken.

"I had scouted the course many times, so I knew every inch of it," she said. I think I made a lot of time on the technical sections."

Bigham noted that the men's trio had been selected six weeks earlier and the women's trio two weeks earlier. Until Archibald was called up to replace Geraint Toombs in the individual time trial, only Henderson had competed in this World Championships.

"I think one of our strengths was that we knew the inside of the corners and how far we could push.

"In training I went a little too fast through some of the corners, which was a little scary, but it gave me a good idea of my limits. Maybe it came down to the Tour Series crit. I race enough in the wet city center, so this is just one of those things."

Even if Tanfield felt he could have taken more risks--"I bottled it up a little bit"--Bigham described his teammate's cornering as "outrageous," and the same adjective applied to Henderson.

"Back in the Tour Series, she has dominated those courses. Tight, technical, twisty and punchy, she was in her element. She took Anna as fresh as possible to the end, leaving the last five or six minutes to her own devices.

Starting fourth out of 11 teams, Great Britain jumped into the hot seat, ahead of Belgium and Spain. High-fives were exchanged as the relative times of the rival teams turned red, and the mood turned completely celebratory when Italy returned home and the medals were assured.

"I don't know if I've ever sweated so much in my life. I had a lot of caffeine and I was shaking," Henderson said. 'It was a good experience to be in the hot seat.'

Nerves were never higher than when Longo Borghini got a flat tire and the window of opportunity opened. Tensions had never been higher than when Longo Borghini got a flat tire. Initially, her teammates continued to ride without her, but she got a new bike and eventually made contact again in the final kilometer.

"It's crazy to see her come back like that. It shows how strong she is," said Bigham. 'She's good in time trials, she was the reigning TTT champion last year. It was always tense and tight-handed. But there was a relative split from the car behind the Borghini, so the Italians were way out in front.

"I'm sure there will be lots of video of our antics in the hot seat. It was good to be able to enjoy it. We had to be a little careful because cell phones are not allowed on the podium. But we enjoyed the moment and savored it. When you see your friends and family in the crowd, it makes you enjoy being at your home World Championships."

In contrast to Bigam's elation, Tanfield looked at the crowd with a more mixed feeling. His friends and family from North Yorkshire did not have to travel far to cheer him on, but crucially, his mother, who died at the end of August, was not there.

"I'm really happy that my family and all the people came to see me and that I came home with a medal. So I wanted to do this to make them proud of me."

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