Annemiek van Vleuten didn’t celebrate as she crossed the line as the winner of the elite women’s road race title at the UCI Road World Championships. That was probably because she didn’t believe what was happening.
Van Vleuten had come to Australia as one of the major favourites after a storming season, but that all changed when she broke her elbow in a freak crash in Wednesday’s mixed relay team time trial.
It was extraordinary enough that she even started the road race on Saturday. It was more extraordinary still that she survived the selections through to the final laps, and again that she somehow found herself in the lead group heading into the closing kilometres.
What she did next was something else entirely. She took off, with less than a kilometre to go. No one reacted, and that was that. Against all odds, Van Vleuten was world champion again.
“I still cannot believe it,” Van Vleuten said. “I’m still waiting for the moment someone tells me it’s not true.”
The possibility of a second world title only crystallised in that final kilometre – and even then Van Vleuten didn’t really believe in it. Before that, she had reduced herself to support duties for the Dutch team.
Unable to ride out of the saddle due to the pain in her arm, Van Vleuten was dropped when the race ignited on the final two ascents of the punchy Mt Pleasant climb. Things came back together for the final lap but she hung back to try and pace Marianne Vos back into contention as the stronger climbers disappeared up the road.
What happened next was unscriptable.
“We had only Marianne as leader and I was just the domestique with a broken elbow, and now I’m world champion,” she said, bemused.
“It was hell,” she added of the pain in her arm. “I couldn’t go out of the saddle so I had to do everything seated. My legs were exploding on the climbs.
“I was working for Marianne but I suddenly found myself in the group and felt she wasn’t coming back. I knew I couldn’t sprint with the elbow, so I needed to attack from behind – it was the only chance I had. I was waiting for them to sprint over me but they didn’t catch me.”
Van Vleuten becomes world champion for a second time after an equally stunning victory in Yorkshire in 2019. They were very different victories, however, and she saw the humour in the fact it was a 105km solo three years ago and a 1km solo this time.
The 39-year-old will now wear the rainbow jersey in the final season of her career.
“I wanted to do a Yorkshire 2.0…
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