World champion Armitstead turns attention to Rio Olympic gold

The victory saw her become the fourth British woman to win the road race world championships – after Beryl Burton, Mandy Jones and Nicole Cooke.

Victor of the UCI Women’s Road World Championship Cycling race, Elizabeth Armitstead, of Great Britain, front, is joined by second place finisher, Anna Van Der Breggen, of the Netherlands, right, and Megan Guarnier, of the U.S., center, after they crossed the finish line during UCI Women’s Road World Championship Cycling race in Richmond, Va., Saturday, September 26, 2015.

The 26-year-old will wear the world champion’s white jersey with rainbow bands for the next 12 months after a sensational win in Saturday’s 130-kilometre race in Richmond.

The Yorkshire rider’s last attack, on the final climb, put a few riders out of contention, but coming over the top towards the finish line, she had not managed to distance all of her rivals.

The course featured repeating cobblestone climbs, a 200m test at Libby Hill and a shorter but steeper rise at 23rd Street, and a 300m climb just ahead of the final turn for the finish.

France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the 2014 victor as well as reigning world cyclo-cross and mountain bike champion, was knocked over in an early crash but recovered to finish sixth.

Van der Breggen added another silver medal to the one the Dutch standout captured in the time trial.

That was too much for Armitstead, who found little help for a charge and had to bide her time until the closing kilometers when the break pack faded.

“It was a case of being willing to lose the race in order to win it, I knew that from past year, I had to be patient and I had to gamble”, she said. “I just couldn’t believe it”.

Describing the final sprint Armitstead said, “I got on the front, I was leading and waiting for them to go for it, but it didn’t happen”.

“I think this is my biggest victory and I am very happy because I made a lot of sacrifices these last three weeks after the Vuelta”, he said.

“It was attack and sprint”, Armitstead said.

“I just could not believe it, I did not get to celebrate as I was really going all out for the line”. Rasmus Pederson of Denmark was third. She was eventually caught, and a cat-and-mouse game ensued among the leaders as they prepared for the sprint finish.

Armitstead said she would “empty the tank” in the road race as she attempted to make up for the disappointment of finishing seventh past year.

But the man synonymous with the Tour’s green jersey, which he has won four years in a row, will now don the rainbow stripes after a thrilling display.