The rainbow jersey of a world champion is said to be cursed but it embarrassed Rachel Atherton in a different way than you might expect as she made her debut as World Champion this weekend.

Rachel decided that Round One of the Pearce Cycles DH race series at Bringewood was the perfect time to don the famous jersey but she wore it back to front. Doh!

Rachel posted on Instagram: “First race run in the World Champs top and guess what…. I had it on BACKWARDS!!! What a tomato!! Thanks Sarah Barrett for the snap”

As silly as she may have looked, Rachel was not slowed down by her mistake as she stormed to the victory by 27 seconds over second placed Lucy Drees. Her time of 2:31.245 would have placed her  third in the junior men and fourth in the masters men’s competitoins.

Watch Rachel Atherton overtake 91 riders at the Red Bull Foxhunt

It was a successful weekend all round for the Athertons who were making their debut for Trek Factory Racing as Gee also took the win in the Elite Men’s category by 1.2 seconds over Joe Smith with Taylor Vernon in third.

Hopefully Rachel will be able to work out which bit of the jersey is the front before the first round of the downhill World Cup which starts in Lourdes on April 9-10.