Cycling Update: 2012 Olympics Women's Road Race

You may recall that last year in the women's world championship road race Marianne Vos of the Netherlands finished 2nd for the 5th straight time.  She would not be denied this Olympic gold.  On the last ascent up Box Hill, Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia made the critical attack of the race. Vos quickly realized the danger in this move and joined Zabelinskaya. Two others also jumped over, Elizabeth Armistead of Great Britain and Shelley Olds of the United States.  The two power teams left out of the move were the Germans and the Italians but so late into the race they were struggling to close the gap and soon it became apparent that the four up front would be going for the medals.

Disaster struck Olds though when she punctured and fell out of the lead group, this meant we had three to fight it out.  Zabelinskaya is a time trial specialist and so her best chance of winning was to break away from the other two and simply keep them at bay as they came down the stretch, she was unable to do this.  Armistead is a good sprinter and so she was looking for the three to stay together and hope for her chances in a straight up sprint.  This is what happened as Vos, who is one of the greatest women cyclist in history, was looking for any chance to win.  With under 200 meters left Vos started the sprint and Armistead just didn't have the legs to get around her.

Another solid performance from the United States, but another miss at a medal.  

1 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 3:35:29
2 Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain)
3 Olga Zabelinskaya (Russian Federation) 0:00:02
4 Ina Teutenberg (Germany) 0:00:27
5 Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)
6 Emma Johansson (Sweden)
7 Shelley Olds (United States of America)
8 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (France)
9 Liesbet De Vocht (Belgium)
10 Aude Biannic (France)