Marianne Vos: 'Silver was all I could do' as Dutch spell over rainbow jersey is broken

Everything had gone perfectly, Vos says, until the last few metres when Balsamo couldn't be brought to heel

Marianne Vos
(Image credit: Getty)

Similar to how many Americans would have breathed a sigh of relief at the start of the year when the White House passed from one owner to the other, the Netherlands' four-year reign of tyranny in the women's Worlds road race is finally over thanks to Elisa Balsamo.

"Until [the finish line] the situation was good," Vos said after the finish, looking stoic in defeat with her chin held high. "I knew it was going to be a hard final but we wanted to make the race hard.

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Jonny was Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor until 2022.

I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.

Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).

I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.