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Copenhagen 2011: Bronzini retains world title, Vos second for fifth year running

GB's Nicole Cooke just out of the medals in 4th, Lizzie Armistead 7th...

Giorgia Bronzini of Italy has retained her world road race title after just holding off Dutch rider Marianne Vos by half a wheel in Denmark this afternoon. Italy's first medal of this year's championships followed a cagey race that burst into life in the closing kilometres. Vos, winner in 2006, has finished second in each of the five years since then. Germany's Ina Teutenberg was third, with 2008 champion, Nicole Cooke of Great Britain, fourth and Lizzie Armistead seventh.

Most of the 140-kilometre race was a very cagey affair, with racing more or less neutralised as no-one seemed willing to commit to making a move. That changed on the eighth of the ten 14-kilometre laps, however, when Canada's Clara Hughes attacked off the front of the bunch and managed to establish a gap of more than half a minute at the bell.

Hughes was caught with a little over a couple of kilometres out and the next rider to attack was Germany'sJudith Arndt, winner of the time trial on Wednesday.

Behind, a series of crashes put paid to the hopes of riders including Linda Villumsen, Danish-born but now representing New Zealand, who had caimed silver in the time trial.

On the finishing drag, Bronzini powered to the front and just managed to keep in front of Vos, whose frustration at being runner-up for the fifth year running was plain to see.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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Strathlubnaig | 12 years ago
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The commentators kept saying it was good winning tactics but not exciting to watch, well even if a team did not think they had the sprinters to win in a bunch finish, at least sending out some escapees would have upped the pace and got their names mentioned etc, showed a bit of enthusiasm and agression, both very sadly lacking today, not a good advert for wimmins cycling...yawn.

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KirinChris | 12 years ago
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Cagey is the nicest thing anyone will say about that race...

Boring, mind-numbing and coma-inducing are possible alternatives.

How about next year they make the women's race just one lap, since they don't seem to want to race any more than that.

Seriously, I think the average club rider could have finished with the bunch in that race and the better ones would have picked up a decent place.

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