Van Vleuten towers over at cycling world championships
“Hell Ride” with a broken arm leads to gold
09/24/2022 11:37 am
On Wednesday, Annemiek van Vleuten falls in a time trial and breaks her elbow – but she still competes in the road race at the World Cycling Championships in Australia. And duped the competition in the last kilometer with a decisive start.
Standing behind the finish line with a bandaged arm, Annemiek van Vleuten could hardly believe her luck. “I can’t believe it. I’m still waiting for someone to come and tell me it’s not true,” said the exceptional Dutch rider after winning gold in the road race at the World Cycling Championships in Wollongong, Australia, despite a broken elbow had fetched.
For van Vleuten it was the culmination of a super year in which she had already won the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta. The start was uncertain for a long time. On Wednesday, the 39-year-old had a bad fall in the mixed team time trial shortly after the start and fractured her elbow.
“What should I do? I couldn’t sprint with my elbow, so I attacked. That was the only chance I had. I was just waiting for them to catch me, but they didn’t come,” added van Vleuten. The pain was “hell” on the way. “I couldn’t get out of the saddle on the mountain. My legs exploded there.”
Bronze for Germany in the U23 ranking
For Liane Lippert, on the other hand, the race over 164.3 kilometers ended in a huge disappointment. The 24-year-old finished fourth after 164.3 kilometers behind second-placed Belgium Lotte Kopecky and third-placed Silvia Persico from Italy. Even in mixed, Lippert had to be content with the thankless fourth place.
Meanwhile, Ricarda Bauernfeind was able to celebrate bronze at the World Championships in the U23 class. As in the time trial, there was a U23 rating in the women’s race. There, the New Zealander Niamh Fisher-Black won ahead of the British Pfeiffer Georgi. Bauernfeind had already won bronze in the individual time trial.
The podium place would also have been possible for Lippert. The German made the strongest impression on the mountain. She had attacked twice on Mount Pleasant and in a five-man lead group she had already distanced the favorites. “It’s very frustrating. I had the feeling that I was the strongest in the group. I really wanted to get on the podium and gave everything,” Lippert told ARD. But the rivals in the group didn’t work well together, so they all came together with just over a kilometer to go. Van Vleuten used the moment to attack.