A minute of silence was observed at the start of Saturday's World Championship women's road race in memory of Swiss junior rider Muriel Füller.

Füller was seriously injured in a crash during Thursday's junior road race and died Friday.

After consultation with Füller's family, the UCI and the local organizing committee confirmed that the remaining races would go ahead.

On Saturday morning in the town of Worcester, just before the start of the elite women's road race, riders and the public quietly paid their respects to Fuller.

The six-member Swiss women's team stood at the front of the peloton, arms around each other's shoulders as they faced the grueling conditions of the race. The race speaker addressed the crowd and the assembled athletes in English and German: “With this silent prayer, we would like to remember Muriel, who was young, jovial, always humble, and very positive.”

“It's a really special feeling and a really difficult situation for all of us.

“It's home worlds, we've worked hard for this and we're trying to do our best. [I think the result is secondary.

“It could go either way. We've never been in a situation like this and anything can happen. We are not being too hard on ourselves today.”

On Saturday morning, flags were flown at half-staff in Switzerland, not only at the memorial in Worcester, but also at the finish area of the road race.

Meanwhile, at the concurrent Paracycling Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland's Franziska Mathile Dorich won a silver medal in the women's C4 category road race.