Despite having a broken elbow, the 39-year-old Dutchwoman nonetheless managed to win the road race on Saturday. This victory was a fitting tribute to her status.
A demonstration of bravery and shrewdness in solving a problem from a different era: Annemiek van Vleuten, star of women’s cycling, crossed “despite suffering a shattered right elbow, hellSaturday in Wollongong allowed him to win the world championship. The Dutchwoman, who suffered an injury on Wednesday when she fell at the beginning of the mixed relay, broke away from a pack of about a dozen runners less than a kilometer from the finish line to take first place, finishing ahead of the Belgian Lotte Kopecky and the Italian Silvia Persico.
With this second global title, after that of 2019, she completes at almost 40 years of age a great season that saw her win the three Grand Tours, of France, Spain, and Italy as well as Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Her last world title was in 2019. “I find it impossible to believe. Even though my elbow is broken, I was meant to be a water carrier today. She reacted with an exuberant stare, as she was struck by her accomplishment. “And here I am world champion,” she said. Her colleagues Ellen van Dijk, who won the world time trial championship on the previous Sunday, and the immortal Marianne Vos, who have yet seen others win, were waiting for her at the finish line. Neither of them could believe what they were seeing.
It is a fact that their comrade had already demonstrated that she was perfectly capable of standing up to evil. She finished sixth at the 2018 World Championships held in Innsbruck despite riding the final 100 kilometers of the race with a shattered kneecap. On the other hand, we stepped into a new realm on Saturday. “I went from having a nightmare to having a dream, and that is my biggest accomplishment. I had not the slightest inkling that it was even remotely feasible for me to triumph in this competition. When I broke my elbow, all of my hopes and goals were dashed to the ground. However, even though she had a fracture without displacement in her right elbow, she still decided to run to “assist girlfriends.” “.
“My legs were exploding”
She gave the reason for her decision a few minutes before the race, saying, “It’s not for me today, I’m unable to put myself in a dancer.” On the other hand, the damp weather forced her to rely on all of her scientific knowledge and experience while navigating the chosen 164.3 km course. She was unable to stand up on her pedals, so she fell off her bike multiple times while climbing Mount Pleasant, the hill that is part of the street circuit. Mount Pleasant is a little over a kilometer long and has an average gradient of 7.7%, and it must be climbed six times.
“It was awful, I had to complete the whole race sitting on my saddle, and my legs were exploding on the climbs,” she added. “I had to finish the entire race sitting in my saddle.” However, the Dutchwoman did not become anxious despite zigzagging in the highest possible percentages to maintain constant contact. And when her hunting party joined the five breakaways a short distance before the red blaze, she quickly jumped up from behind, still seated, to depart. postman and make everyone believe a lie.
In the championship race, the Dutchwoman let her knowledge of the race’s science speak for itself. WILLIAM WEST / AFP Image Credit
It was only a few meters away from the finish line when she decided to put herself in the position of a dancer at the expense of a final effort, beyond the pain, to snag the right to run her final professional season, the year after next while wearing the rainbow jersey. “It’s the most stunning thing in the world. In the year 2020, the Covid limited the amount of running I was able to do while wearing the world champion’s shirt. I believe that’s what she meant when she said, “I’m going to make the most of it.”
It marks the second victory for the dominant Dutch team at these World Championships, following Ellen van Dijk’s triumph in the time trial earlier in the competition. The Dutch team has now won five of the previous six editions of the road race. Since the first competition in 1958, when Elsy Jacobs of Luxembourg took home the crown, this is the 14th time that the Netherlands has triumphed in the queen competition. Juliette Labor came in first in France and seventh overall, and she has no regrets about her performance. “I saw when I should leave, but I was unable to. The person who was intrigued remarked these lines: “That’s where Van Vleuten went, and no one could follow.”
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