Road World Championships: Annemiek van Vleuten wins gold despite a broken elbow

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Exceptional driver Annemiek van Vleuten: Victory despite a broken and heavily bandaged right elbow

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WILLIAM WEST/AFP

Victory despite great pain: Dutch Olympic champion Annemiek van Vleuten won gold at the Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia.

And that despite the fact that she started with a broken elbow after a fall in the mixed time trial on Wednesday.

van Vleuten surprised the competition with an attack on the home stretch.

She won one second ahead of Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Silvia Persico (Italy).

Meanwhile, Liane Lippert missed the reward for a courageous race by a hair's breadth.

The German champion sprinted to a thankless fourth place in the thrilling finale of the 164.3 km road race on Saturday.

"I can't believe it," said van Vleuten, who won all major national tours this year with the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and the Spanish Vuelta: "I couldn't sprint properly because of my elbow.

So I thought I had to attack from behind.

It was hell, I couldn't really get out of the saddle and had to do the race sitting down."

It wasn't the first time van Vleuten had raced with a serious injury.

In 2018 she broke her kneecap at the World Championships in Innsbruck 90 kilometers before the finish line and still finished seventh.

For 39-year-old van Vleuten it is the second road race title after 2019. In 2017 and 2018 she won the famous rainbow jersey in the individual time trial.

Lippert is caught

Lippert shaped the race with an offensive driving style.

In the final, the 24-year-old repeatedly initiated attacks, which were ultimately unsuccessful.

The German also led a breakaway to the final.

At the one-kilometre mark, this was set by the pursuers around van Vleuten.

The Dutchwoman used the merger for an attack that her rivals could no longer parry.

Previously, the German starters had clearly missed out on a medal in the junior race.

After 67.2 km, Jette Simon (Kaiserslautern) finished 14th as the best German, 2:21 minutes behind.

Gold went to Brit Zoe Bäckstedt, who lived up to her position as a favorite and successfully defended the title on her 18th birthday.

The podium was completed by Eglantine Rayer (France) and Nienke Vinke (Netherlands).

The World Championships in Australia conclude with the men's road race on Sunday (from 2.15 a.m. CEST).

The German drivers are outsiders.

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