Kristen Faulkner of the United States soloed across the line in front of the Eiffel Tower to win the women's Olympic road race after attacking in the final few kilometres in Paris.
Marianne Vos (Netherlands) claimed silver in a three-up photo finish for the remaining medals, just edging out Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) on the line, as Blanka Vas (Hungary) missed out on the podium from the four riders who animated the finale.
After chasing down leaders Vos and Vas in the final 10km, alongside Kopecky, Faulkner launched a counter-attack with 3km to go, and a moment of hesitation from the other three riders allowed the American to go clear and seal victory.
Faulkner was a late addition to the USA road race team, replacing Taylor Knibb, and will be going for gold again next week as part of the team pursuit squad on the track.
“I feel like it’s a dream come true," she told Eurosport at the finish. "I took a really big risk a few years ago to come pursue my dream, and I’ve made it happen. It’s the best feeling in the world. I don’t know how to describe it.
“I had high hopes. I’m racing team pursuit in two days, so I said I would only do the road race if I felt strong and I felt like I had a chance at a medal, and that’s the only reason I’m here. I knew it was going to be a really tough race, but I knew that if I was racing, I was racing to win, I wasn’t racing to participate, so I really had to come in with that ambition and if I wasn’t trying to medal I wasn’t going to race. That was a promise I made to my team pursuit teammates.”
Team GB's best result was Pfeiffer Georgi in fifth, after the whole trio of Georgi, Anna Henderson and Lizzie Deignan had made it into the elite selection in the finale, but just missed out on the decisive move.
HOw it unfolded
Rolling out of the centre of Paris in front of dense crowds, it was a relatively subdued start to the 158km race.
Burkina Faso’s Awa Bamogo set off as the first attacker, but she was only away for around 10km before the Netherlands and Switzerland-led peloton brought her back on the Côte des Gardes. The next move came from Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia, who again ended up away solo. The breakaway attempts continued behind her, however, with several riders trying to bridge to the leader.
With 120km to go, Jenčušová had built a lead of three minutes over the peloton, with a group of five chasers around 50 seconds behind her. They were Fariba and Yulduz Hashimi (Afghanistan), Hanna Tserakh (Individual Neutral Athletes), Rotem Gafinovitz (Israel) and Thị Thật Nguyễn (Vietnam). They joined the Slovakian with 108km to go, making it six at the front. The gap tipping over four minutes briefly spurred the relaxed peloton into action, but they soon calmed again and the gap ballooned to over five minutes.
With 90km to go, Ellen van Dijk took control of the chasing for the Netherlands, as the pace started to build in the bunch. On the approach to the centre of Paris and the finishing laps, the peloton were steadily closing in on the leaders, as Fariba Hashimi and Tserakh pushed clear of their companions.
On the final climb before the circuit, Van Dijk dropped away and the attacks kicked off in the peloton, with a move by Mavi García (Spain) tempting others into reaction, including Great Britain’s time trial silver medallist Anna Henderson. She didn’t get much ground on the bunch, but things didn’t settle with attacks continuing onto the flat as the gap fell to a minute.
The constant attacks were really whittling down the group, but few were actually getting away, with the major teams all working to keep things together ahead of the first ascent of the Montmartre climb. With 52km to go, the four distanced breakaway riders were caught, leaving just Hashimi and Tserakh up the road in front of an elite, reduced peloton.
A Thrilling finale in Paris
With 50km to go, the leaders were caught just as the race hit the Montmartre climb, with García once again the one to accelerate, drawing out a small group of around 10, including Marianne Vos (Netherlands), Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Kristen Faulkner (USA) and GB’s trio of Lizzie Deignan, Pfeiffer Georgi and Anna Henderson. The likes of world champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Netherlands pair Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes didn’t make the selection, so were forced to chase as the road flattened out.
Kopecky made the catch with 41km to go, making for a very elite group at the front: Kopecky, Vos, Longo Borghini, Noemi Rüegg (Switzerland), Deignan, Georgi, Henderson, Marta Lach (Poland) Faulkner, García, Liane Lippert (Germany) and Blanka Vas (Hungary). They quickly built up a lead of 40 seconds over the Vollering and Wiebes group, which also included Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland).
In front, Team GB were using their numbers to tag-team attacks, but as a result Deignan dropped away the next time up the climb, with Henderson soon following, so only Georgi remained as García once again pushed the pace. Behind, Wiebes pushed on up the climb, drawing out a smaller chase group with Niewiadoma and Caroline Andersson (Sweden), though they still trailed by 46 seconds.
Over the top of the climb, Georgi attacked and briefly had an advantage, but was pulled back by Vas and Kopecky as the attacks continued. The disorganisation allowed Henderson and Deignan to get back on, with Deignan immediately attacking off her teammate's wheel to go solo. She was soon joined by Vos and Vas, and they in turn dropped the Brit, making it two up front with 21km to go. They cooperated well to build a lead, which tipped over 30 seconds with 16km to go, as the chase didn’t quite organise in the second group.
In the third group, Niewiadoma used a short climb to launch clear of her companions and try to bridge to the chasers herself, whilst Longo Borghini dropped away from that group which had now shrunk to just five riders.
WIth 10km, on the final ascent of the climb, Faulkner and Kopecky proved stronger than the rest of the group, dropping everyone else and rapidly cutting into the gap to the leaders. On the flat, a narrow gap of six seconds separated the two pairs of riders for a nail-bitingly long time. They eventually made the junction with 3.5km to go, making it four riders in the battle for the three medals. Faulkner immediately countered, and the other three looked at each other, allowing the American to get a jump in what would turn out to be the race-winning moment.
It was a three-rider sprint for the remaining medals, with Vos just edging it to add a silver medal to the two Olympic golds already in her trophy case, as Kopecky took third before she switches to the track next week. Vas took fourth after finishing tenth in the cross-country mountain biking earlier in the Games.
RESULT: Women'S OLYMPIC ROAD RACE, PARIS > PARIS, 157.6km
1. Kristen Faulkner (USA), in 3:59:23
2. Marianne Vos (Ned), +0:58
3. Lotte Kopecky (Bel), s.t.
4. Blanka Vas (Hun), s.t.
5. Pfeiffer Georgi (GBr), +1:21
6. Mavi García (Esp), +1:23
7. Noemi Rüegg (Sui), +2:04
8. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol), +2:44
9. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita), +3:05
10. Marta Lach (Pol), +3:27
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