American chases down leaders in Paris and solos home
American Kristen Faulkner came into the Olympic Women’s Road Race a late entry and a low profile, but with a series of powerful accelerations she overcame the leading group, the world’s #1 ranked rider and race favorite, and the expectations of all to win glory on the highest possible stage. Her efforts brought USA Cycling a rare gold medal, first for a woman in the road race since Kasia Niewiadoma’s mother-in-law in 1984. In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, if not the Bastille, her storming efforts left all of cycling royalty gasping for air.
Coming off the final climb in Paris, the iconic Montmartre, and with no less than Belgium star Lotte Kopecky for company, the EF Education rider from Alaska closed the half-minute gap to Blanka Vas of Hungary and Marianne Vos, the Dutch cycling queen. With minimal help from Kopecky, the catch happened with 3km to go, but incredibly it was not Kopecky holding the cards. Correctly reading the condition of her rivals, Faulkner sat on only briefly before accelerating up the left side of the road. Vas led the attempt to close down the move, but in vain, and incredibly the chasers were broken, left to jostle for silver.
Vos tucked home a tire’s width ahead of Kopecky for silver, adding another medal to her gold from London. Kopecky’s bronze was her first Olympic medal.
Paris - Paris 158 km
A shorter loop than the men and then two passes up the Montmartre climb instead of three but the course should offer essentially the same characteristics. Two clear favorites but this could end up in a million different ways depending on how the team dynamics play out. The one thing I think we can rule out is another kieserhofering.
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Everyone thought this was a foregone conclusion since the course was announced but in the last few weeks it’s been automatically assumed Kopecky will win it. I still think we were all right from the start.
