Annemiek van Vleuten’s incredible comeback has continued with the star Orica-Scott rider claiming gold to win the women’s time trial event at the Road Cycling World Championships in Bergen, Norway.
Many will remember van Vleuten’s horror crash during the women’s road race at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She’s since made a rapid recovery and says the nightmare crash has made her a stronger rider.
“I still cannot believe it,” 34yo van Vleuten told Orica-Scott after the World Championship TT win.
‘I Keep Surprising Myself’
“This season I keep surprising myself with what I can do. To be world champion in the time trial I never thought I would be able (to do) this. This year I started to believe in it and to finish it off is incredible.”
Van Vleuten said she’d seen many ups and downs over the past 18 months – “and sometimes some real downs, makes the ups even more beautiful,” she added.
“This is beautiful without a crash in Rio, but that makes the story really, really special.”
Van Vleuten won the women’s TT by 12 seconds. She finished ahead of fellow Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen with Australian rider and Orica-Scott teammate Katrin Garfoot 25 seconds behind in third.
Road Cycling World Championship Women’s TT Top 3
1.Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands/ORICA-SCOTT) 28:50.35
2. Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands/Boels Dolmans) +12.16
3. Katrin Garfoot (Australia/ORICA-SCOTT) +37.95
Images courtesy of Orica-Scott & UCI.