Sunday, August 4, 2024 at 6:10 PM
American cyclist Kristen Faulkner is the surprising new Olympic champion on the road. In the final she rode away on tiptoes from a group of four with Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos and Blanka Vas. Thanks to Vos, the Netherlands did win a silver medal, ahead of Lotte Kopecky, who can take home the bronze.
After the debacle in Tokyo, where Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer surprised the Dutch and Belgian favourites, we had an extra motivated Dutch and Belgian team at the start in Paris for the road race. The riders were presented with a course of 158 kilometres and 1,700 metres of elevation. No easy task. Just like the men, the cobbled climb Côte de la butte Montmartre (1 km at 6.5%) was the deciding factor in the 18.4 kilometre long final rounds.
The 65-year-old French cycling legend Jeannie Longo was allowed to fire the starting shot. She won the Olympic title in Atlanta 28 years ago. However, it was a lesser name who caused the first attack of the day. It was Awa Bamogo from Burkina Faso, but her attempt was only 15 kilometers long. Later, the Slovakian Nora Jencusova also sounded the attack drum, but she too did not get any like-minded people to join her.
The strong Dutch team in advance – photo: Cor Vos
It took a long time for the Afghan sisters Yulduz and Fariba Hashimi to launch their counterattack, with the Israeli Rotem Gafinovitz, Thai Thi That Nguyen and the Belarusian Hanna Tserakh. They had to close the gap on Jencusova by two minutes, which they only managed to do with about a hundred kilometres to go. The Uzbek Olga Zabelinskaya also tried, but she did not succeed. The peloton was not worried at all, because the six leaders were allowed to ride away for an equal number of minutes. However, the Netherlands had to get to work by then. They had three favourites in the house, so Ellen van Dijk took the lead in their service.
At 68 kilometres from the end we saw the beginning of what would become an animated finale. Not only did the leading group completely fall apart, the peloton also saw the first pinpricks from the riders who wanted to anticipate the big favourites. At the front, Tserakh and Hashimi were left with the two of them. At the back, the Spanish Mavi Garcia opened the debates. The Spanish was one of the shadow favourites and immediately saw Marianne Vos spring into action. A little later, Demi Vollering did the same in response to attacks by the British Anna Henderson and Elizabeth Deignan and the Canadian Alison Jackson.
First decision after massive crash
However, it was mainly a matter of feeling each other out, real differences only came twenty kilometres later at the dreaded Montmartre climb. In the bend towards the climb, the Swiss Elise Chabbey suddenly fell behind, but took half the peloton with her. Many riders were held up, and in this way an interesting leading group emerged as if by chance.
Of the Dutch star team, only Marianne Vos was there, but also the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini and the British Elizabeth Deignan were the biggest names who had survived the battle. With Pfeiffer Georgi and Anna Henderson, the latter even had two pawns with him, who were quite interested in keeping up the pace. Furthermore, we also saw the heads of the Swiss Noemi Rüegg, the American Kristen Faulkner, the German Liane Lippert, the Hungarian Blanka Vas and the Spanish Mavi Garcia.
The big absentees were the Belgians, who had the top favorite in Lotte Kopecky. No problem, Kopecky must have thought, because on the climb of Montmartre itself the Belgian made the jump herself with an impressive effort. One that just threw the fast Lorena Wiebes loose. Longo Borghini and the British tried to prevent Kopecky’s return, but the Belgian closed the gap of about fifteen seconds in one go.
Marianne Vos in an interesting group – photo: Cor Vos
The Netherlands then found themselves in a position they actually wanted to avoid: getting ahead with Kopecky. Demi Vollering then decided to lend a hand in the peloton, where she led the debates together with the French. However, the lead of the leading group grew very quickly in a short time. Before anyone knew it, the group had ridden away for more than half a minute and it seemed they could fight it out for the victory. That caused nervousness at the front and a number of new jabs.
Tactically strong Fox
The second time on the Montmartre cobblestones brought no relief, but in the kilometres that followed we did get a tactical game. The Brits and Longo Borghini put all their trump cards on the table, but did not choose the right moment. Marianne Vos did so a little later. On a slightly uphill stretch she joined forces with the Hungarian Blanka Vas, in normal life a teammate of Kopecky. But the latter started to play poker and missed the trick. Behind their backs everyone looked at each other whitely, which allowed Vos and Vas to gain half a minute in turn.
They rode away for a maximum of forty seconds, but then the last time Montmartre had yet to come. There the situation suddenly turned completely. The American Kristen Faulkner unleashed her demons on the pursuers and took almost the entire cobbled climb for herself. She rode off rider after rider, until only Kopecky was on her wheel. And the seconds? They melted away like snow in the sun.
The flat finish became even more exciting. The two duos – Vos/Vas and Kopecky/Faulkner – kept each other in check with a gap of barely five seconds between them. It was not clear for a long time in which direction the coin would fall, but when the two leaders started to play poker a bit, Kopecky and Faulkner joined them. The American let Kopecky close the last gap and immediately jumped away behind her back. Vas tried to close the gap again, but she got no support. The result: the bird had flown.
The American didn’t know what hit her and saw the three riders behind her start surplacing. She was given free rein and booked the most beautiful victory in her career. Behind her, Lotte Kopecky launched the jump from very far, but she saw Marianne Vos come over her in extremis. Vas fell – albeit very narrowly – next to the podium.
The sprint for silver – photo: Cor Vos
