We knew that the world title could be lost on the steep Lofthouse climb lurking a third of the way through this road race – Lizzie Deignan said as much to The Independent earlier this week – but we never suspected that was where it would be won.
Annemiek van Vleuten attacked as the road climbed up to the open moors, and she just kept going for the next 104km, Forrest Gumping her way to the finish Harrogate in one of the greatest solo rides ever seen at a Road World Championships. Aged 36, she has a stacked medal cabinet with two Giro Rosas and two time-trial world titles, but this was her first road race rainbow jersey, and rarely has it been more richly deserved.
A cohort of strong riders gave chase, among them Yorkshire’s own former world champion Lizzie Deignan, but she was left frustrated as they failed to find any coherence, with Van Vleuten’s Dutch team-mate Anna van der Breggen acting as chief spoiler.
Deignan attacked repeatedly in an effort to resist the widening gap to the race leader, but with each failed burst she only seemed to hurt her own legs until she had nothing left to give. The others stuck with her and eventually left her behind. The young American Chloe Dygert sensationally won time-trial gold this week and attempted to repeat the feat in bridging across to Van Vleuten, but she cracked in the final 10km, letting Van der Breggen sweep through to collect silver. Australia’s Amanda Spratt won bronze.
Up ahead Van Vleuten had already had time to celebrate down the packed home straight, before jumping over the barriers to hug her mum. “It was a crazy plan,” she said. “I wanted to go hard on the climb, and I did and then I saw I had a gap. I can’t believe it. I am a little bit crazy, but I was ready for such a big effort. It was such a big dream for me.”
