World Road Champs 2014 women's road race
27th September 2014
The women's road race took place today at the World Road Championships 2014 in Ponferrada, Spain. The course was seven laps of an 18.2km circuit.
There was a big crash on the second lap, with dozens of riders falling. Marianne Vos was slightly delayed, and Giorgia Bronzini fell, but Lizzie Armitstead was ahead of the fallers.
Spela Kern of Slovenia made a solo break with four laps to go. Her lead was up to 40 seconds at one stage. She was caught with a little less than three laps to go.
Alison Powers of the USA was next to make a break, as the peloton crossed the line with two laps to go. Shortly after she was reeled in, the rain began to fall. Rachel Neylan of Australia struck out ahead in the rain, then as she was brought back, the leading pack split, with a lead group of around twenty riders.
There were several attacks on the climb on the last lap, with the Dutch team chasing them down, and Lizzie Armitstead always well-placed in the first few positions.
Lizzie Armitstead made a move with 5km left, putting in a burst on the last uphill section. That resulted in a lead group of four on the descent - of Armitstead, Vos, Johansson, and Borghini. They came onto the flat together, with 1.8km to go, but they eased up, allowing more riders to join the lead group.
There was a sprint for the line, and Ferrand Prevot of France won. Brennauer was second, and Johnasson third.
Armitstead was seventh. She said that the race was too easy. 'It needed to be harder earlier in the race.'
This is a link to the results.