Evelyn Stevens missed out on a medal in Tuesday's time trial by just 0,04 second and today she had another near miss in the road race. Having asked her team to make the race hard, the American was right there on the final lap but cramps on the final climb made her lose out on the elusive top 3 result.

Evelyn Stevens has been one of the stars of the 2013 world championships in Florence. On Sunday, she was part of a dominant Specialized-Lululemon win in the team time trial and on Wednesday, teammate Carmen Small beat her into a heartbreaking 4th by just 0,04 seconds.

Today she was once again a protagonist. While the first few races had been less selective than expected, Stevens had a plan to make the course live up to its rumoured toughness. As soon as the peloton reached Florence and hit the circuit, she asked her teammates to set a furious pace that whittled down the peloton and made it a race of attrition.

When she started the final lap, she was part of a select 8-rider group that contained no less than 3 Italians and two Dutchmen. Being isolated, she had to play it smart against the stronger nations and everything appeared to be on track for a medal when she hit the steep Via Salvati climb with 5km to go. However, it all came to nothing when she suffered from cramps for the first time in her career.

"I was on the last lap and I just cramped," she told a few media, including CyclingQuotes. at the finish. "I think I went into today thinking that you are going to dig deeper than ever before. I tried but my legs just didn't seem to work with me."

"On the long climb I was starting to feel it but I thought it was nothing. Then I went on the steep climb and I had to stop pedaling. I've never cramped for my whole life."

"It was hard," she added. "I was outnumbered but the Americans did brilliant. It was a nice effort. As soon as I was outnumbered, I tried to play it smart."

The USA haven't won a medal at the world championships since Jeanne Golay's bronze in 1994 but this year's course offered what appeared to be a unique opportunity to break the drought. Having brought a strong team of climbers, the team did all they could to set up their leader.

"We had a really great climbing team," she said. "We did it almost perfectly. The girls were just setting tempo up there. It was good. It is disappointing when you don't deliver and the team does everything they can."

While Stevens' cramps weren't part of the plan, the performance of Giro champion Mara Abott certainly wasn't either. Already on the first lap the American disappeared from the front group.

You cannot always have a great day," Stevens explained. "It's hard to time one-days. I've definitely had days where my legs didn't go like I wanted them to. That's bike racing. You have to adapt. You can have a plan but then shit happens."

In the end, Stevens had to settle for 5th and so the race was another near miss for the strong American.

"I did it in the team time trial," she said. "You know: to finish 4th by 4 hundredths of a second to Carmen... It's a pity to lose it but for Carmen to take it is awesome. She's had a great season."

Once again it was the virtually unbeatable Marianne Vos that took the spoils. Despite being dealt another blow by the fabulous Dutchman, Stevens refuses to throw in the towel.

I didn't so I guess not," she said when asked whether Vos was beatable. "She just makes us go home and train harder to get your game up to hers. None of us are up there so we just have to try to figure out how we get to that level. She's definitely racing the bike for women's cycling."