Ellen Van Dijk of the Netherlands suffers this costly error that saw her miss out on a medal in the TT at the Rio Olympics.
Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands) suffered a mishap during the Olympic TT in Rio today that will haunt her for the rest of her days.
She finished in the loneliest place of all at a major championships; 4th and just outside the medals.
The race was won by Kristin Armstrong; the 42-year-old American taking her third gold medal against the clock at an Olympics.
And in the silver medal position was Russian rider Olga Zabelinskaya, who has served a doping ban in the past.
She was five seconds down on the winner and was celebrating in the hot seat, apparently thinking she had won the title, while Armstrong was still out on the course as last rider off.
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Oeii.. Ellen van Dijk raakt van de weg! #CyclingRoad #TeamNL pic.twitter.com/4EdCcrpkTO
— Sportnieuws.nl (@Sportnieuwsnl) August 10, 2016
Then came Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen who had won the gold in the road race on Sunday. She was just 11 seconds off the winner and six seconds off the silver.
But in 4th place was the unfortunate Van Dijk.
She was 11 seconds off her team mate in the bronze medal position and would have almost certainly taken 3rd place but for a mishap during her ride.
Van Dijk had suffered a momentary lapse of concentration during her ride and ran off the course into the margin.
She was forced to unclip and get off her bike before having to pull it out of the undergrowth and get going again on the uphill stretch.
The mishap and the time it would have taken her to get going again – not to mention he loss of rhythm – definitely cost her the bronze.
