On Wednesday, she was in hospital with a broken elbow. Three days later Annemiek van Vleuten rode through 164km of “hell” and became a world champion – again.
The Dutch warrior gave Australian fans a display of incredible courage with a memorable win in the elite women’s road race at the UCI Road Championships in Wollongong.
After a gruelling race with multiple attacks, van Vleuten stayed in the fight and made a surge in the last 500 metres to surprise a bunch preparing for a final sprint, and hung in to claim her fourth world championship.
Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Silvio Persico (Italy) won the minor medals. Alex Manly was Australia’s best finisher, in 15th position.
The victory was one for the ages given van Vleuten, 39, was wincing with agony for most of the race, having suffered a broken right elbow in a fall in the team time trial event on Wednesday.
Doctors gave her the OK to compete but her original plan to dominate the race as a leader for the Dutch, with a breakaway on Mount Keira, was abandoned. Van Vleuten’s role was to burn her legs in the race as a domestique (worker) instead, but she stayed in the fight until the end to help Dutch sprinter Marianne Vos potentially win in a sprint.
Annemiek van Vleuten kisses her gold medal on the podium after an incredible victory.Credit:Getty
But Vos dropped away, and van Vleuten took a shot to attack from behind inside the final kilometre. A hesitant sprinter’s group let the veteran take enough of a lead to hang on.
“It was hell. I couldn’t not go out of the saddle so I had to do everything seated and my legs were exploding on the climb,” van Vleuten said.
“Normally, I really like to go 100 per cent and attacking. I wanted to attack on Mount Keira but that was before I broke my elbow. I was just a domestique today with a broken elbow and now I am world champion.
“I knew then I couldn’t sprint because of my elbow … and then I was waiting and I knew I had to attack from behind, it is the only, only, only chance I have. I was waiting and waiting until they come with the sprints over me, but they didn’t catch me.”
Annemiek van Vleuten didn’t celebrate at the end because she was sure she’d be overtaken.Credit:Getty
In a storied career that has contained Olympic gold medals and multiple world championships, van Vleuten said it was her greatest win and was rated by experts as her finest one-day ride. It gave her an incredible collection of victories in 2022, with the world championship coming after van Vleuten had already claimed the Tour de France Femmes, the Giro d’Italia Donna and the women’s Vuelta a Espana.
“After I broke my elbow I thought there was no way I could win a world championships. All my dreams were finished when I broke my elbow,” van Vleuten said.
“I did not think about this (winning) until the final kilometre, I was a fully committed domestique today.”
Australian veteran Amanda Spratt was one of the least surprised, having predicted on Thursday van Vleuten would not only race with a broken elbow, but potentially win.
“I gave her a hug and she said ‘what can I do, I like to create stories’ – she’s done that, hasn’t she?” Spratt said.
“I could see her early in the race a few times trying to get out of the saddle and you could see it was painful.
“She just gets in that zone where she just manages to forget about it and, just, yeah … I’m pretty speechless.”
Australia’s team battled strongly in a race of two halves, which saw a tentative first half followed by a punishing, attritional second. Brodie Chapman, Sarah Roy and Spratt worked like demons to keep Grace Brown in contention but when she dropped off, the tactic switched to putting Manly into a bunch sprint.
In the end, however, surges up Mount Pleasant by climbers on the final two laps broke the field apart and Australia were unable to keep a body in the lead group.
“We’re really proud of our ride,” Spratt said. “I don’t think there’s too much we could have changed. In the end, there were stronger riders who managed to stay away.”
