sport news Annemiek van Vleuten wins UCI World Championship race in Wollongong with a ... trends now
Annemiek van Vleuten has recorded an amazing come-from-behind victory in the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong - just three days after fracturing her elbow in a horror crash.
The 39-year-old Dutch cycling legend won her second world road race title with an attack in the last 600m that caught the other eight leaders by surprise.
On Wednesday, van Vleuten crashed during the mixed team relay and fractured her elbow, leaving many to think her chances of taking out Saturday's big event were gone.
Annemiek van Vleuten of Netherlands, right front, races past the finish line to win the elite women's road race at the world road cycling championships in Wollongong, Australia
van Vleuten crashed three days beforehand and fractured her elbow and wasn't expected to win the event
Fortunately for van Vleuten, medical clearance came on Friday and after 164.3km racing, the Dutch rider stole an unlikely win in the Women's Elite Road Race.
The 2019 world champion and reigning Olympic world time trial winner claimed cycling's triple crown this year when she landed the Italian, French and Spanish tours.
But for the veteran, who will celebrate her 40th birthday in October, what she achieved on Saturday was something else.
'Maybe this is my best victory. ... I am still speechless. I still can't believe it,' she said.
'It took me some time to realize I'd really pulled it off because I'm waiting for the moment that they tell me there was someone in front or it was a joke. I had the feeling it cannot be true.'
