Cycling, women’s world championship: Annemiek Van Vleuten’s masterpiece

Giro, Tour, Vuelta and World Championship. Phenomenal. Annemiek Van Vleuten, who turns 40 on Saturday 8 October, with a devastating razor stroke about 600 meters from the finish, wins the world title. Silver medal for the Belgian Lotte Kopecky, with Silvia Persico in bronze (and fist on the handlebars).

THE MASTERPIECE – The Dutchman, who according to official sources runs with a broken right elbow (consequence of the fall on Wednesday at the start of the relay), certainly with very high socks that seem suitable for containing varicose veins, sprints to the right and for the others it is immediately understood that there is nothing more to be done. The of him is a true masterpiece at the end of a race of great suffering in which, uphill – already in the penultimate lap – he seemed now cut out of the game. “True – affirms Van Vleuten – I love to attack on those snags but today I had to suffer because my legs exploded. At that point we changed tactics during the race and I made myself available to Vos. Instead now I find myself here with the rainbow jersey. Incredible. I certainly hope to enjoy it more than the first one I brought in the year of Covid and it wasn’t nice “. Van Vlueten, in fact, had already imposed itself in the 2019 World Cup, the one played in Yorkshire.

THE DISCUSSION – Yet for her the race had not started in the best way and not only for the bandaged elbow. The jury after a few kilometers (who knows not why before the start) had noticed that the color of her jersey was slightly different from the rest of the Dutch. In fact, Van Vleuten started with the time trial leotard, so she was forced to wear the jersey as well as the others. Which was done, but after a few kilometers the situation returned to the starting point: too hot.

LONGO BORGHINI DISAPPOINTMENT – Elisa Longo Borghini after four bronze medals (Rio and Tokyo at the Olympics, Limburg 2012 and Imola 2020) and as queen of Paris-Roubaix, she dreamed of finally winning the world championship gold. She, who hardly has a chance in the sprint, played her cards flawlessly. When the German Lippert unleashed all hell on the penultimate lap, Elisa was the quickest to take the wheel. The scene was repeated on the last passage. in front, like the previous round, a quintet was formed with the Polish Niewiadoma, the South African Moolman-Pasio and the fast Danish Ludwig inside. But the dream of going to play for the victory ended when, one kilometer from the finish, the Swiss Reusser brought back a small group. At that moment, no one thought of Van Vleuten anymore. Nobody expected it. Mistake.