Van Vleuten (39) only decided on Friday that she would start. She had fractured her elbow in a fall in the mixed team time trial on Wednesday. It is the second time that the Wageningen world champion has become. She previously succeeded in 2019 in Yorkshire.
The battle for the world title ignited three rounds before the end. At Mount Pleasant, Italian defending champion Elisa Balsamo struggled to follow for the first time and thinned out the group further. Marianne Vos, leader of the Dutch team, had four helpers with Ellen van Dijk, Van Vleuten, Riejanne Markus and Floortje Mackaij. At the start of the penultimate lap the Australian Sarah Roy tried to get away. She was caught before another crossing of Mount Pleasant.
An attack by the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma brought the Dutch riders into trouble. The Italian Elisa Longo Borghini was along, as were the German Liane Lippert, the Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and the South African Ashleigh Moolman.
Behind that five, Van Vleuten tried to bring forward Vos who had fallen behind. She was helped by Van Dijk in a group, including Kopecky, who started the final lap 23 seconds behind the leading group. For the final crossing of Mount Pleasant, the two groups reunited.
Out of a group of 26, the Swiss Marlen Reusser was the first attacker before the climb, but a number of riders came back under the leadership of Lippert. It was the moment when Vos had to drop out again and Van Vleuten as pacesetter tried to keep the gap to the leading group within limits. In the front, with the same five that previously drove in front, a lot of people looked at each other. Van Vleuten was among the eight that joined 1 kilometer before the finish, just like Kopecky. Vos rode shortly behind in Van Dijk’s wheel, but too far to sprint.
Van Vleuten then outsmarted everyone with an attack in the last hundreds of meters. She is allowed to ride in the rainbow jersey for her last year as a cyclist.