Fiona Mangan has battled to finish in her first appearance at the UCI World Road Championships, with Zurich serving up a very exciting 2024 edition of the women's road race, won by the defending champion.
Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) triumphed in very wet conditions to take her second world title in as many years after looking in the final like she may have lost her chance.
As was the case with the junior and U23 races of recent days, the heavens opened and the undulating and technical course saw the filed split to pieces. Many riders were spat out the back in the opening 30km before the action reached the finishing circuit.
Mangan - who has had a breakthrough season this year winning the Irish road title and also taking some very strong international results - was among the masses in the battle to survive today. Only a very select few were left at the front truly racing for the medals.
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In the end, the Irish champion fought all the way to record a finish; a more than solid return in a stacked field racing a cold and wet 154km with 2,250 of elevation gain.
Limerick woman Mangan was 65th, finishing in a large group at 21:05, in a race where just 81 of the 190 starters lasted the course. Sisters Aoife and Caoimhe O'Brien were also making their debut in the elite road race at the Worlds for Ireland today and were among the non finishers.
They had lost time in that section of the race before the finishing circuit - with the weather and the 1.5km climb of Binz, averaging nine per cent - causing damage very early. And once riders lost contact before the circuits, as many did, there was simply no way back.
Up front, the Dutch and Belgians were dominant for much of the race, deep into the final. However, when the business end really played out on the final lap, only Demi Vollering remained for the Netherlands and eventual winner Kopecky for Belgium.
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And though Kopecky and Chloé Dygert (USA) were dropped on the final lap, as Vollering did much of the damage on the climbs, they got back on to take gold and silver.
Indeed, Dygert was distanced several times, going up and down the repeated inclines, though she regained contact for the final time with Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Australia).
Though Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) put in a fine solo attack on the last lap, and looked for a brief period like she may be on the way to the title, she was chased by Vollering. That action trimmed the lead group right back, though Dygert and Kopecky would get back on.
At the finish, Kopecky won it comfortably in a sprint, with Dygert the only one to even get close to her. Longo Borghini just about edged out Liane Lippert (Germany) for bronze.
Then came Vollering and Roseman-Gannon, in 5th and 6th, from the leading six-rider group, with the next riders just over one minute down.
LOTTE KOPECKY IS THE 2024 ELITE WOMEN RR WORLD CHAMPION! ?♀️?#Zurich2024 pic.twitter.com/dXaZv9wm1o
— Eurosport (@eurosport) September 28, 2024
