It’s been a super wet week but somehow Saturday’s Women’s Elite World Championships stayed largely dry! A shower near the start didn’t dampen spirits and the run into the finish saw Annemiek van Vleuten take the rainbow jersey in the sunshine.
The race saw an impressive 100km solo break by van Vleuten to win, staying away from a chasing group of stars containing former World Champs Liz Deignan and Anna van der Breggen. Ultimately they didn’t work well together and the gap never closed. A couple of attacks saw Chloe Dygert-Owen get some distance but she was reeled in and Anna van der Breggen and Amanda Spratt rounded out the medals.
I managed to take photos at Norwood Edge – the first climb of note on the parcours, around 20 minutes into the race. At that point, there were no riders off the front but plenty already struggling and off the back. From there, I went into Harrogate and took up station 200 metres from the finish line where I had a great view of Annemiek van Vleuten winning the coveted rainbow jersey.
