No replacement for Olympic silver medallist sees Great Britain’s women reduced to five
Lizzie Armitstead (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) has withdrawn from Great Britain’s World championship team through illness, British Cycling has announced. The Olympic silver medallist was to be the team’s leader for Saturday’s Elite women’s road race, where she had high hopes of taking a medal.
British Cycling has not released any details of Armitstead’s illness, but the Yorkshirewoman - who was not part of the AA Drink-Leontien.nl team that took the bronze medal in last Sunday’s team time trial - will not be replaced in the team.
The withdrawal - and non-replacement - of Armitstead takes Great Britain’s strength down from six to five. As one of the World’s top five nations Great Britain was entitled to take a seven-rider team but, for undisclosed reasons, British Cycling elected to select just six of the twelve-rider shortlist that had been published earlier in the month.
The team will still be led by Armitstead’s teammate, individual time trial fourth place Emma Pooley, who will likely be one of the strongest in the race on the hilly circuit, and 2008 World and Olympic champion Nicole Cooke. These two big names will be supported by another member of AA Drink-Leontien.nl in Sharon Laws, Katie Colclough (Specialized-lululemon) and cyclocross specialist Nikki Harris (Telenet-Fidea).
With the loss of the team’s leader, and focus, for Saturday’s race however, Great Britain will have to rethink its race plan if it is to continue the Olympic momentum.