World number one hoped to get closer to the podium in her first appearance in the race
Today’s women’s World championship time trial was a first for the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos and, despite her inexperience in time trials at that level, she had hoped to do well in the event. The 24-year-old Nederland Bloeit rider has one gold and an incredible four silver medals in the road race, and so started the race as an outside bet for the title. On the wet and windy course though, all she could manage was tenth place, some 55 seconds behind new World champion Judith Arndt of Germany.
“I’m pretty disappointed,” Vos told the Dutch news agency ANP. “It wasn’t right from the outset. On a course like that, with the wind against you, you have to keep a big gear turning, but that didn’t work.
“With regard to the time trial of the London Olympics there is so much work to do.”
This season Vos has seemingly been able to win at will; even when she has been beaten it seemed to be on her own terms. The two most recent occasions that the Dutch champion had been beaten in time trials were down to mechanicals and the weather conditions: in the Giro d’Italia in July she was beaten into third thanks to a late puncture, while compatriot Ellen van Dijk managed to beat her in the recent Holland Ladies Tour stage due to the HTC-Highroad rider starting in the dry, and Vos starting in the wet.
“Tenth doesn’t sound too bad, but actually it’s worse,” said Vos. “I had hoped to be closer to the podium.
“There’s still a lot to improve,” she admitted. “I will have to train specifically if I’m going to turn that big gear around.”
Despite her disappointment in the time trial, Vos still remains the super-hot favourite for Saturday’s road race. Having never finished worse than second in the event in her five appearances to date, and at the head of a very strong Dutch team, the 24-year-old is odds on to add a second road rainbow jersey to her four in cyclocross and two on the track.