Annemiek van Vleuten is set to ride the elite women's road race at the World Road Championships in Wollongong tomorrow despite suffering a fracture to her elbow when she crashed at the start of the relay team time trial.
The Dutch federation announced the 39-year-old, who rides for Movistar, had been cleared to ride the 164km race. Van Vleuten yesterday said herself she had been on her bike since the crash and could "do anything except stand (up) on the pedals".
She added at the time she would need to be able to race out of the saddle on the hilly course, especially on the crucial climb of Mount Pleasant, and sounded downbeat about her chances of making the start line.
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However, some 24 hours on she has judged fit enough to ride the race as the fracture in her elbow appears to be small and stable.
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"Very nice news from Wollongong," the Royal Dutch Cycling Federation said in a brief statement. "Annemiek van Vleuten will drive the road race at the World Cup on Saturday. A final test today showed that the recovery was sufficient to be able to participate."
Under normal circumstances, Van Vleuten would be one of the big favourties to take the gold medal, especially on such a demanding course. However, while she has been cleared to ride the race, it is unclear if her injury will undermine her performance.
She crashed on Wednesday just after the start of the relay TTT when her chain slipped from her big to small ring, causing her to lose control and hit the deck hard. She played no further part in the relay TTT but has now one the race to be on the start line again on Saturday.
