Bronzini aiming to add Olympic title to rainbow jersey

Marianne VosShe’s undoubtedly been the dominant rider in women’s cycling, but Marianne Vos has had a frustrating run of near-misses in the world championships ever since she took her rainbow jersey in 2006.

In the years since she has been runner up to Marta Bastianelli (Italy), Nicole Cooke (Great Britain), Tatiana Guderzo (Italy) and, in both 2010 and 2011, to Giorgia Bronzini.

She has been in strong form this season despite fracturing her collarbone during the Valkenburg Hills Classic on May 25th, returning one month later to take second on the Dutch national championship, then winning five stages and the general classification in the Giro Donne.

Today she’s determined to add a road race gold medal to the points race she won in Beijing in 2008, and is prepared to do everything to win.

“It will be a tough race but I do not think I can be satisfied with silver or bronze,” she told Reuters. “Am I stronger than ever? Yes, I think I can say that.”

One of her top rivals will be Bronzini, who outfoxed her in the past two editions of the worlds and wants to make it three big championship wins over her today. If she does that, she will pull off an extremely rare Olympic/worlds double, something Mark Cavendish was aiming for yesterday.

She said that the frustration of a quiet season thus far will drive her today. “I have built up a bit of anger to use in this race,” she stated, adding that she believed there were many riders that she must keep tabs on. “My rivals should be the usual ones, from Vos to (Ina) Teutenberg to (Nicole) Cooke, but that’s not counting the outsiders, like Shelley Olds, who had not been included in the group of contenders for the win.”

The women’s race will be 140 kilometres in length, and takes in two laps of the Box Hill circuit. That’s seven less than the men, and thus greatly increases the odds that there could be a bunch sprint.

There are just 66 riders in the women’s event due to differences in the Olympic rules between the men’s and women’s races. The imbalance is a disappointing one, not least because several well-known riders have had to miss out.

Women’s road race, 140km:

GREAT BRITAIN

1, COOKE Nicole
2, ARMITSTEAD Elisabeth
3, MARTIN Lucy
4, POOLEY Emma

NETHERLANDS

5, GUNNEWIJK Loes
6, VAN DIJK Ellen
7, VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek
8, VOS Marianne

GERMANY

9, ARNDT Judith
10, HÄUSLER Claudia
11, TEUTENBERG Ina-Yoko
12, WORRACK Trixi

UNITED STATES

13, ARMSTRONG Kristin
14, NEBEN Amber
15, OLDS – EVANS Shelley
16, STEVENS Evelyn

ITALY

17, BACCAILLE Monia
18, BRONZINI Giorgia
19, CANTELE Noemi
20, GUDERZO Tatiana

AUSTRALIA

21, GILLOW Shara
22, HOSKING Chloe
23, SPRATT Amanda

SWEDEN

24, FAHLIN Emilia
25, JOHANSSON Emma
26, SÖDERBERG Isabelle

RUSSIA

27, ANTOSHINA Tatiana
28, PANKOVA Larisa
29, ZABELINSKAYA Olga

CANADA

30, HUGHES Clara
31, NUMAINVILLE Joëlle
32, RAMSDEN Denise

BELGIUM

33, DE VOCHT Liesbeth
34, HENRION Ludivine
35, POLSPOEL Maaike

FRANCE

36, BIANNIC Aude
37, CORDON Audrey
38, FERRAND PREVOT Pauline

NEW ZEALAND

39, VILLUMSEN Linda Melanie

BRASIL

40, SOUZA Fernanda da Silva
41, FERNANDEZ SILVA Clemilda
42, FERNANDES SILVA Janildes

SOUTH AFRICA

43, DE GROOT Robyn
44, MOOLMAN Ashleigh
45, VAN DE WINKEL Joanna

CUBA

46, GONZALEZ VALDINIESO Yumari

VENEZUELA

47, GARCIA BUITRAGO Danielys Del Valle

UKRAINE

48, ANDRUK Olena

BELARUS

49, AMIALIUSIK Alena

CHINA

50, LIU Xin

EL SALVADOR

51, GARCIA Evelyn

NORWAY

52, MOBERG Emilie

LUXEMBOURG

53, MAJERUS Christine

SOUTH KOREA

54, NA Ah Reum

MEXICO

55, DREXEL Ingrid

ESTONIA

56, TREIER Grete

THAILAND

57, MANEEPHAN Jutatip

TAIPEI

58, HSIAO Mei Yu

POLAND

59, PAWLOWSKA Katarzyna

AZERBAIJAN

60, TCHALYKH Elena

FINLAND

61, SUNDSTEDT Pia

HONG KONG

62, WONG WAN Yiu

JAPAN

63, HAGIWARA Mayuko

SLOVENIA

64, BATAGELJ Polona

MAURITIUS

65, HALBWACHS Aurelie

CHILE

66, MUNOZ GRANDON Paola