A lousy week, an even worse race. It's raining. It's even started to get cold and... Her broken elbow hurts like hell when she stands on the pedals and tries to jump the climb.. Annemiek Van Vleuten is not one to cry over spilt milk, but when the other day she fall at the start of the team time trial and she broke her elbow, she felt an aura of negativity around her.
Gregaria of Marianne
She found her way out by becoming a wingman for Marianne Vos. Last year's blunder it had to be washed out with a superb team performance. So he brought it back under on the penultimate lap when the other one dropped off. And then He saw her disappear behind him on the last lap, when he realized he couldn't do anything about it anymore.The race is coming to an end and the Dutchman knows that in a sprint he won't be able to match the power of his legs with his battered arm. And then she does the only thing that comes to mind: she attacks.!
«I haven't had a single second since Wednesday – he says – to to think or dream of a World Cup other than the one as a gregariousIt was all gone. I followed them up the hill, I wanted to speed up like always, but I couldn't. Some friends told me to enjoy the ride, but there's nothing funny about the pain I feltThere were years when I was the strongest on the team, but this wasn't the day..."
Compact group
1.300 meters to go and finally the chase between the two leading groups is overIt took a lifetime, because no one in front felt sure how the cards would end when they shuffled. For us there are two Italians, Persico and Longo. And while we're there wondering if they managed to talk to each other, a white shadow darts at double speed to the rightHe puts on his turn signal and goes away. Like Saronni at Goodwood. Like a sprite or a missile.
«I wasn't thinking about anything – says Van Vleuten and stares into space with his blue eyes – except push hard, thinking they would catch me with a sprintI didn't believe it either. I had been running all day as a domestique, thinking that tonight I would have said hello to Wollongong. Instead I'm leaving with the rainbow jersey and It took a while to figure it out upon arrivalIt's the most beautiful of all. I have no words. It was a flash, an inspiration. I no longer felt pain, I felt nothing..."
The most beautiful victory
Behind they organize, because she's long gone and it's impossible for her to arrive alone with so many fast girls behind her. Yet she doesn't turn around and push, putting the bitterness of these days in your legsMaximum ratio, the broken arm that pulls and then we'll see. All she had to do was turn around and maybe they would catch her., but she stares and the line is under the wheels.
«This is my greatest victory – he says – another rainbow jersey after Covid ruined my 2019 oneThis time I plan to enjoy every race. It's hard to say how I can resist the bad luck I often have in the orange jersey (the national team jersey, ed.). a nice trip inside my head. I try not to be negative. When I broke my elbow, I thought I could still run to help the teamI like the spirit we've built this time. I try not to sink. In all the bad moments of my career, I've always looked forward. It's a skill I've evidently honed..."
A crazy year
When he walks away to the medical check, he still has the same incredulous expression he had under the finish lineMuch more than at Liège, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, or the Vuelta. He won the world championship and his attack in the final was a real masterpiece, a stroke of genius while all the others were concentrating on the sprint. He woke them up like fingers in the socket, but before they reacted, she was already far away. As Italians, we had other ambitions, and Silvia Persico's bronze medal is another story to tell. But faced with a victory like this, and even if it's raining, we're all here taking our hats off.
