a woman gazed up at an apartment building in Mistral. She stood under a streetlight, with her arms crossed. Her clothes were almost entirely blue: a short, light blue, silk skirt, with dark blue shorts underneath; a deep blue blouse; and a short, thick jacket. Her boots and stockings were black, as was the belt she wore at her waist. Two long knives—almost swords—hung from the belt; she wore one knife on each hip, and had an assortment of small Dust canisters attached to the rest of the available space on the belt.

The woman pulled out her scroll and dialled the first number in her contacts list. On the third ring, he answered.

"Good evening, Ao. Is everything going smoothly?"

"Of course," she answered with a smirk. "You left mewhen eventual silver medallist Eli Iserbyt let up on the pace, and 19-year-old Pidcock sprinted by.

The Yorkshireman adds the Under-23 title to the Junior World Championships crown he won during the 2016-2017 season. He was also victorious at the European Under-23 Championships earlier this season and can now add another rainbow jersey to his collection.

Fellow Yorkshire rider Ben Turner also performed well in the under-23 category, finishing sixth. The 19-year-old from Doncaster crossed the line in 48.20, 38 seconds down on Pidcock.

Earlier in the day there had been British success in the junior race with Kent-based Ben Tulett became only the second man in history to win successive junior titles.

n Cycling’s world governing body the UCI is expanding its use of video referees this season to 20 leading