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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, September 26, 2021

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Women's World Road Championships reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from second-place Marianne Vos' Team Jumbo-Visma:

Marianne Vos has finished second at the World Championships on the road. Italy’s Elisa Balsamo defeated the rider of Team Jumbo-Visma in the sprint.

After a long, quiet start, the race opened up with about sixty kilometres to go. Many attacks followed, but eventually it came down to a sprint in Leuven. The Italian riders started the sprint after which Vos won her sixth silver medal.

Marianne Vos

Marianne Vos finishes second to Elisa Balsamo. Sirotti photo

The three-time world champion was disappointed with her second place. “I would have liked to win here. Balsamo rode a very strong race. When she attacked, I couldn’t develop more speed. The last metres were painful, because I felt I couldn’t get past her. I missed the punch. It’s been a grueling race”, Vos said. “It’s a shame I wasn’t able to finish it off. It wouldn’t have been the first time for me, but you don’t get a chance like this every day.”

Britain’s Anna Henderson showed up at the front frequently. “I didn’t know how my legs would feel. When we turned onto the Flandrien Circuit, I noticed that it was all right. On the Leuven circuit, I rode up front a lot in case the opportunity arose to jump in. I will take this experience with me for the future.”

Here's the report from bronze medalist Katarzyna Niewiadoma's Canyon-SRAM team:

Kasia Niewiadoma had an impressive race today to win a bronze medal in the UCI Road World Championships in Leuven, Belgium.

After several attacks in the final hour of racing, Kasia was still able to hold on with a strong sprint to step onto the podium behind new world champion Elise Balsamo (Italy), and silver medalist Marianne Vos (Netherlands).

World Podium

The podium, from left: Marianne Vos (2nd), Elisa Balsamo (1st) & Katarzyna Niewiadoma (3rd)

Most of the action started in the final 60 kilometres with several of CANYON//SRAM Racing’s riders present in the front group. While Kasia tried several times to get away solo, both Tiffany Cromwell (Australia) and Alena Amialiusik (Belarus) were also present in short-lived moves in a flurry of attacks as the race came to the closing kilometres.

In the sprint, Italy delivered the final lead-out for Balsamo who started the sprint first. Vos was unable to come around the Italian, and behind Kasia led the front group but no one was able to come around the Polish rider for third.

“I’m really happy to step on the podium to get this bronze medal,” said Kasia.
“I tried several times in the race to have a different coloured medal but it wasn’t to be. I’m glad this time I could hold on in the sprint and get third place. That makes me happy for what ended in a sprint finish.”

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