The moment a Dutch cyclist thinks she has won Olympic gold… only to find out seconds later that rival had already crossed the line minutes before
- Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten threw her hands in the air in celebration as the crossed the finish line, thinking she had just secured a gold medal
- But she had not realised that Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer had already finished
- Van Vleuten’s elation turned to dejection when told she had come second
- Riders in the Olympic races do not have the assistance of radio and that makes it difficult to know where riders stand on the road
Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten threw her hands in the air in celebration as she crossed the finish line of the women’s Olympic road race, thinking she had managed to secure a gold medal.
But van Vleuten had not realised Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer had already finished the race a minute and 15 seconds earlier.
Van Vleuten’s elation turned to dejection after she was told she had in fact come second in the race and broke down in tears as she explained the mishap.
The Dutch rider, who had been a pre-race favourite and set her sights on a gold medal, sprinted away in the closing stages from the chasing bunch to cross the line with a broad smile and fists pumping at the Fuji Speedway.
She had been unaware of an early break by Kiesenhofer, a mathematician from Austria, who rode clear of the field to record a sensational upset and grab gold.
Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten threw her hands in the air in celebration as she crossed the finish line of the women’s Olympic road race, thinking she had managed to secure a gold medal
Riders in the Olympic races do not have the assistance of radio, like there are at professional races, and that makes it difficult to know where riders stand on the road.
The peloton were oblivious to Kiesenhofer’s dramatic 41km solo effort which saw the Austrian cross the line first in one of cycling’s biggest Olympic shocks.
‘Yes… I thought I had won. I was wrong,’ Van Vleuten tearfully told reporters as Dutch media labelled it a major blunder.
‘I felt very stupid when I found out. We are talking here about miscommunication. I didn’t know what the situation was but neither did the rest.’
Others on the road had also failed to remember that Kiesenhofer was out ahead. Van Vleuten’s teammate and defending champion Anna van der Breggen also thought she won.
So did Britain’s Lizzie Deignan, who told the BBC: ‘The best person won the bike race here today. Annemiek was clearly the strongest.’ Turns out it wasn’t so clear. She wasn’t the strongest.
But van Vleuten had not realised Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer had already finished the race a minute and 15 seconds earlier
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ winner Kiesenhofer said. ‘Even when I crossed the line, it was like, “Is it done now?”.’
Five years ago, van Vleuten was leading in Rio before a horrific crash on a sharp descent left her with a concussion and three fractures in her lower back.
‘I’m gutted,’ van Vleuten said. ‘With five kilometers to go, [2012 champion] Marianne [Vos] came up to me, none of us knew if everyone was caught back. This is an example of what happens if you ride an important race like this without communication.’
But she insisted she would quickly get over the calamity and might be back in three years.
‘My goal today was to be my best self ever and I succeeded. I mean, we can whine about the miscommunication for a long time, but I could have won gold here in this form. I did very well,’ Van Vleuten said.
‘Yeah, I’m really proud of it. I mean, it’s a silver medal, but it does have a bit of a shine to it. And it’s also my first medal, isn’t it? I do have an Olympic medal. A lot of people would kill for that.
‘And yes, some things are out of your control and we will evaluate them. We might blame ourselves for not knowing about Anna Kiesenhofer, but I really can’t blame myself for anything else.
Annemiek van Vleuten of Team Netherlands winner of silver, Anna Kiesenhofer of Team Austria winner of gold and Elisa Longo Borghini of Team Italy winner of bronze competing on Women’s Road Race during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
At 38, Van Vleuten must now decide whether to try again in Paris in 2024. ‘That I can do this today makes me hungry again,’ she added.
‘Maybe I haven’t reached a plateau yet. If I stop now, I will really miss it.’
Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy won a sprint Sunday for her second consecutive bronze medal.
‘I counted the riders that we caught and then I do understand German, and the Germans were really on the parcours and they were telling the riders the gap,’ Borghini said. ‘I knew there must be someone at the front. I didn’t know who it was, but I knew there must be someone else.’
Kiesenhofer’s curriculum vitae features more academic accomplishments than cycling ones: a degree from the Technical University of Vienna, studies at Cambridge and a doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
She spends time teaching at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland rather than doing altitude training in the Alps.
In fact, Kiesenhofer doesn’t have a coach or professional cycling contract. She manages her own nutrition and creates her own training plans. She was entered in the road race without the benefit of an Austrian teammate to help her out.
None of that mattered.
Kiesenhofer held her arms in triumph – just as van Vleuten would minutes later – as she finished before a crowd of several thousand fans.
Then she toppled to the asphalt, face crusted in sweat, and fought back tears at the realization she had won Austria’s first cycling medal since Adolf Schmal at the first Summer Olympics in 1896.
‘It’s just so incredible,’ Kiesenhofer said. ‘I have really sacrificed so much for today. I wasn’t expecting to finish it off like that. I sacrificed everything even for a top-15 place and now to get this, for the sacrifices, it’s just such a reward.’
Tight COVID-19 controls that have kept fans from seeing most of the Olympics in person do not apply in the Shizuoka Prefecture, so thousands turned out for the second consecutive day to watch the racing at Fuji International Speedway.
Dutifully wearing masks, they lined the barricades from the start at Musashinonomori Park. They hiked up the two climbs through scorching Japanese summer heat to watch the riders pass. And they filled a long, double-decker grandstand on the finishing straightaway at the old Formula 1 circuit to await their dash for the line.
The German team controlled the early stages of the race, trying to protect Lisa Brennauer, but all eyes were on the four-woman Dutch team – van Vleuten, Vos, reigning gold medalist van der Breggen and young standout Demi Vollering – as the peloton rolled through the hilly, forested countryside.
The problems began for the Dutch in the middle part of the race.
Van Vleuten had a mechanical issue that resulted in a bike change, forcing Vos to drop back and help pace her teammate into the field. As soon as they arrived, Danish rider Emma Cecilie Joergensen hit the deck and van Vleuten locked up her back wheel and rode right into her, leaving their bikes tangled on the tarmac.
The attacks began to fly with 60 kilometers left in the 137-kilometer journey southwest of Tokyo.
Vollering went first. Van der Breggen took a shot. Then, recovered from her earlier spill, van Vleuten charged away as the peloton continued toward the finish, no doubt dreaming of winning a race that has haunted her for years.
Problem was Kiesenhofer was grinding away somewhere up the road.
She had left breakaway companions Omer Shapira of Israel and Anna Plichta of Poland before reaching the speedway, then held a gap of five minutes as she began a closing circuit.
Despite more attacks from the field, rapidly escalating tempo and the lactic acid building in her legs, Kiesenhofer kept her head down and concentrated solely on herself.
‘Nobody expected me to come away with a top result here,’ she said. ‘Even myself, I didn’t believe it.’
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