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Vos scores women's road title
Dutch teen sensation Marianne Vos surprised her elder rivals to kick to an impressive sprint victory of an elite group of 15 to become the youngest elite women’s world champion.
Vos, just 19, relegated German sprinter Trixi Worrack into second with world No. 1 Nicole Cooke settling for bronze in the hard-fought, 132.9km race.
“With 150 meters to go, I saw Oenone (Wood) taking the sprint and I just went as hard as I could,” said Vos, winning in 3 hours, 20 minutes, 26 seconds (39.783kph). “I didn’t see anyone around me, so I knew I had won.”
Amber Neben led the way for the Americans, finishing 12th in the winning break.
The young Dutch rider ended Germany’s two-year world’s streak (Judith Arndt in 2004 and Regina Schleicher in 2005) and squashed the rainbow jersey dreams for the favored but eventually outgunned Cooke.
Cooke, 23, attacked hard over the steep Tiefenbach in the final two of six laps to blow open the race, but was outnumbered by the superior German and Dutch teams.
Cooke fractured the group with an attack in the penultimate lap to forge the 15-rider winning break and then accelerated again to pry lose midway through the final lap, with Vos and Swiss rider Nicole Brandli latching on.
That daring effort was foiled by the strong German team, led by the chasing Arndt and Theresa Senff, who reeled in the trio to set up the mass gallop.
Vos streaked passed Wood and frustrated Worrack, 24, to become just the seventh Dutch woman to win the world title and give Holland its first women’s world title since Leontien Van Moorsel won the second of her two crowns in 1993.
“The team was really working hard to close the gap,” said Worrack, a former junior world champion. “We wanted to win a third consecutive world title, but I cannot be disappointed to be on the podium. Marianne was very strong.”
Just how impressive is Vos? To put it in perspective just how young she is, Jeannie Longo (DNF) had already won three of her five career rainbow jerseys when Vos was born in 1987.
“I haven’t raced a lot against her, but I knew she was good,” said Cooke, who collected her third career elite women’s medal. “She was doing her fair share of work in the break and she was strongest in the sprint, so she’s a just winner.”
Cooke on the march
After a slow start, the action kicked into gear on the penultimate lap on the tough Tiefenbach climb when the already atrophied peloton fractured under the pressure of more than two hours of racing.
Cooke surged up the steep 15 percent grades, drawing out Nicole Brandli (Swizterland), Amber Neben (USA) and Oenone Wood (Australia) among a lead group of 15 riders.
Also pulling clear were: Judith Arndt, Trixi Worrack and Theresa Senff (Germany), Chantal Beltman and Marianne Vos (Holland), Noemi Cantele (Italy), Annette Beutler and Priska Doppmann (Switzerland), Sventlana Bubnenkova-Stolbova (Russia), Andrea Graus and Christiane Soeder (Austria).
By the time the leaders hit the first of two climbs on the final lap, the gap widened to 1:40 and the selection was forged for the exciting finale.
“I just tried to follow the dangerous moves or ones that had Germans in it,” Neben said. “You have to be as smart as possible and let the teams do the work and organize the chase.”
Left out were Kristin Armstrong and Christine Thorburn, fresh off winning gold and bronze, respectively, in Wednesday’s time trial. The pair just missed the cut and had to settle with Thorburn 34th and Armstrong 38th at 2:07 back in the first chase group.
With three Germans, three Swiss and two Austrians, the German-speaking faction held a numerical advantage. Most seemed more worried about Cooke, who speaks the Queen’s tongue and who was keen to make up for missing out on a medal in the time trial.
Cooke surged up the climb again to fracture the lead group, with Brandli and Vos taking the bait to push a wedge between the chasers. Cooke buried herself into the pedals and Vos cooperated, but Brandli sat on.
With Arndt and Senff taking heroic turns in the chase group, a frustrated Cooke could only watch as Brandli refused to take a pull. Cooke tried to rationalize with Brandli, but they were reeled in with about 4km to go to set up the sprint.
“I tried to encourage Brandli to cooperate,” Cooke said. “If she did, she had a guaranteed top three, not bad for a non-sprinter, so that’s better than nothing. And she had two teammates in the group who could have blocked. That’s Swiss logic, I guess.”
Controlled opener
It was another spectacular Austrian summer day with sunny skies and a slight northerly breeze to welcome the women’s peloton. Large, enthusiastic crowds turned out to cheer the women in the six-lap, 132.6km race. Some 135 starters lined up, with one non-starter, Giusepina Grassi of Mexico.
Eight riders peeled away late in the first lap, among them racing legend Jennie Longo-Ciprelli (France), Madeleine Sandig (Germany), Olivia Gollan (Australia), Kristen Wild (Netherlands), Vera Carrara (Italy), Anne Samplonius (Canada), Natalie Boyarskaya (Russia) and Tetyana Stiajkina (Ukraine). By the time we typed in their names, the break was reeled in going into the first climb on the second lap.
More riders splayed away at the top of the first climb, with pre-race favorite and defending world champion Regina Schleicher (Germany) losing contact. Following the attack were Fabiana Luperini (Italy) as the peloton was all strung out midway through the second lap under the fierce pace.
There was another stab at a breakaway late in the second lap, with Samplonius and Boyarskaya – both away in the first break – making another run at freedom to hold a gap of 20 seconds at the end of two laps.
The biggest excitement came when one of the big, inflated banners draping over the minus-one kilometer marker ran out of gas, sending staff scrambling to get it off the course before the peloton came barreling through. The duo held a 34-second gap at the halfway point.
The détente held sway through the fourth lap with the pair holding a 34-second gap over the steep Tiefenbach climb, but the move was snuffed on the downhill run back into Salzburg. Vera Carrara (Italy) tried in vain to sneak away toward the end of the fourth lap.
Just through the feed station in lap five, Stiajkina – also away in the day’s early break – charged bravely into the void to open a 12-second gap on the first hill, but was reeled in when Maribel Moreno (Spain) gave chase.
Zulfiya Zabirova (Kazakhstan) peeled away to hold a 15-second lead turning off the main highway onto the narrower roads over the decisive upper reaches of the route before Cooke stepped center-stage to blow open the race.
Top 20
1. Marianne Vos (Nl), 139.2km in 3:20:26
2. Trixi Worrack (G), same time
3. Nicole Cooke (GB), s.t.
4. Noemi Cantele (I), s.t.
5. Priska Doppmann (Swi), s.t.
6. Oenone Wood (Aus), s.t.
7. Annette Buetler (Swi), s.t.
8. Nicole Brandli (Swi), s.t.
9. Svetlana Bubnenkova (Rus), s.t.
10. Andrea Graus (A), s.t.
11. Christiane Soeder (A), s.t.
12. Amber Neben (USA), s.t.
13. Chantal Beltman (Nl), s.t.
14. Judith Arndt (G), s.t.
15. Theresa Senff(G), at 06secs
16. Giorgia Bronzini (I), 2:07
17. Mette Fischer Andreasen (Dk), s.t.
18. Lada Kozlikova (Cz), s.t.
19. Monia Ba ccaille (I), s.t.
20. Grete Treier (Est), s.t.
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