With her second place on today’s World Championship road race, Marianne Vos incredibly took her fourth successive silver medal. Despite having been the outstanding rider of the past five years, the 23-year-old Dutchwoman has just one road World title to her name: the 2006 title, in her first year as a senior.
Despite her graceful smiles on the podium, Vos is forced to disguise her disappointment at standing on the second step once again.
“Thanks for all the support and the nice messages for my 2nd place,” she wrote on her Twitter page, after receiving a number of messages from fans via that site and on Facebook. “It's not gold, but you've made it easier to deal with it.”
In past World Championships Vos has suffered at the hands of the stronger teams and has been deliberately isolated, especially by the Italians, in the closing stages of the race. One of race-winning Italian Giorgia Bronzini’s first comments was about how the main focus had was on how to beat the Dutchwoman.
This year was supposed to be different, with the strongest Netherlands team yet; Vos’ Nederland Bloeit teammate Annemiek Van Vleuten was supposed to be with her team leader right to the finish. A late puncture for the 27-year-old though, meant that Vos was alone at the finale once more; she was forced to launch her sprint a little earlier than was ideal, only to be overtaken at the last by Bronzini.
“In the final I felt good but I had to go for the sprint because otherwise Cooke and Arndt were staying in the lead,” she said after the race. “I had no choice, as I wouldn’t have the gold, and I haven’t got the gold so then I think I won the silver.”
“Well of course, Annemiek, if she was there she would have maybe [lasted] longer for the sprint,” she said. “Maybe I didn’t have to go so early; but that’s not how it went so I had to go.”
Vos is the only cyclist, male or female, to have won World titles on the road, on the track and in cyclocross. She is the current cyclocross World champion, her third title in five years, and will be aiming for a second rainbow jersey on the track in March; but she will have to wait another year to try on the road once more.