As the Australian Kristin Garfoot powered through the last corners of the 21-kilometre course into Bergen’s City centre, with three other riders still to cross the line, a wonderful realisation overcame Annemiek Van Vleuten. The Dutchwoman realised that the Gold Medal would be hers, and she burst into tears of pure joy, hugging teammate Anna Van Der Breggen and even American Chloe Dygert, who was about to be kicked off the podium.
It took just over 90 more seconds for the result to become official when the defending Champion Amber Neben was confirmed as being outside her time of 28:50 with over a kilometre to go, officially ending her title reign, allowing the celebrations to become truly official.
When Neben had rolled over the line for a creditable seventh, Van Vleuten hurdled the barriers that separated the crowds from the roads, and sprinted to hug her mother in front of delighted onlookers.
It was an emotional and deserved ending to a long journey which started in the most macabre fashion, when she suffered a devastating crash at the Olympics last year on the descent from the Vista Chinesa. Her recovery since has been a ridiculous one, but it has produced remarkable results. She had won all four of her time trials in the run up to today’s event and also the Boels Rental Ladies Tour leaving her as the favourite, whilst also taking the first La Course up the Col D’Izoard to boot.
The initial lead had been held by her fellow Dutchwoman Amma Van Der Breggen, the first of three major Dutch contenders to start, stopping the clock in 29:02.51. The talent in her squad meant that she was just the second rider on the course, and after she had taken 1:07 off the time of first starter and American Lauren Stephens, who would eventually finish seventh.
Rain that been circling the course around Bergen for the whole morning, and it began to fallen as the early starts, Stephens and Van Der Berger included, hit the course’s climbs. That precipitation, combined with the gap in quality between many of the contenders, meaning that it was nearly in was nearly an hour before any rider would get within a minute of the leading time. It was to be the American Chloe Dygert who would first get within 37 seconds, but hot on her tail was the flying Orange spectre of Van Vleuten, 3.81 seconds down at the first checkpoint but on a mission to take the top spot.
She flattened the rolling climbs of the course to turn that deficit into a 12-second advantage when it came to the third checkpoint. Having paced to perfection, she maintained every second of that advantage towards the line, and then sat waiting for all comers to attempt to better her time.
The biggest challenge was expected to come from her teammate Ellen Van Dijk, who ran a negative split over the first check before then closing in through the middle section of the course, but she only sat in sixth at the second timecheck, and she did not trouble the clock in the final kilometres, finishing fifth.
This, however, was all about Annemiek Van Vleuten.
