• Dutch rider storms clear in Yorkshire to take world crown
• Van der Breggen finishes second, Deignan comes home 31st
A speculative long-range attack morphed into an epic 105km escape and gave Annemiek van Vleuten the gold medal in the women’s elite race here by a margin of more than two minutes, compensating for her poor luck in the Olympic road race in Rio in 2016. Van Vleuten’s victory looked assured around 40 kilometres from the finish and the final circuit in Harrogate turned into an assured, if painful, lap of honour. In a triumph for the Dutch squad, the defending champion Anna van der Breggen took the silver medal 2min 15sec behind, with the main peloton finishing over five minutes back.
Now 36, Van Vleuten has been one of the most prolific winners in women’s racing, with her biggest victories coming in the 2017 and 2018 world time trial championships, La Course by Le Tour de France in both those years, and the Giro Rosa in both 2018 and 2019. The big gap in her CV, however, was one of the major one-day championships; she had looked set fair for victory on the tough road race course in Rio in 2016 only to crash at high speed on the descent from the Vista Chinesa climb, ending up with spinal fractures and concussion.
Written by William Fotheringham in Harrogate
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/28/annemiek-van-vleuten-womens-road-race-world-championship under the title “Annemiek van Vleuten goes solo to seal stunning women’s road race world title”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
