Marianne Vos wins La Course as Lizzie Armitstead crashes out

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jul/27/lizzie-armitstead-marianne-vos-la-course

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Lizzie Armitstead was battered and bloodied after a last-kilometre crash at the inaugural La Course by Le Tour won by her perennial rival Marianne Vos but the Yorkshirewoman will be fit for the Commonwealth Games road race next Sunday.

As Armitstead picked herself up in the Rue de Rivoli and assessed the damage, a spectacular sprint finish was unfolding, with Vos and her Dutch compatriot Kirsten Wild going on either side of the German national champion Lisa Brennauer – Vos to the left, Wild to the right – as the leaders emerged from the Place de La Concorde before sprinting elbow to elbow in the final metres until Vos pulled ahead.

It was a sprint worthy of the return of women’s racing to the Champs Elysées after 25 years, with speed and panache to the fore. “It was a dream come true, especially with the huge crowds, and it was an incredible race with a lot of attacks and that makes it even better to finish it off,” said Vos. “The team was fantastic, they made [rode] a hard race, placed me in a perfect position and to cross the line first on the very first La Course was just amazing.”

Vos said afterwards that she had instructed her Rabo-Liv team-mates to ride aggressively rather than controlling the race, and indeed the final lap was marked by a useful move from her French team-mate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot with Giant’s Amy Pieters. The pair held a 50m lead coming down the opposite side of the Champs to the finish for the last time, with Vos sitting tight as other teams led the chase.

Armitstead was a persistent attacker in the 90km race over 13 laps of the seven-kilometre circuit based on the Champs Elysées – as used for the finale of the men’s Tour – but she had to have two bike changes after derailing her chain, she ran out of road just inside the kilometre kite at the end of the Rue de Rivoli and fell on the right side of the string as the field lined up for the finish sprint.

“In the final I wasn’t that well placed but I was OK because I was on Vos’s wheel, so I was not too panicked,” said Armitstead. “Then Annemiek van Vleuten turned right on me and put me in the barrier and she took down her team-mate [Ferrand-Prévot] as well so there was no room left.”

Rather than wait for the finish sprint, Armitstead made a late attack just after the bell, but said that in her view, what mattered was to ride aggressively. “I wanted to put on a show, maybe it was a bit silly but I’m not an out-and-out sprinter and I wasn’t sure I was going to win the race. I can maybe pull off a podium place having put on a show as well so that was what I wanted to do. It was effectively a criterium today.”

Armitstead was left with a cut elbow and bruising to her shoulder but was adamant that she will be fit to race in Glasgow on Sunday. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a nuisance. It’s not ideal for the Games but I’m 100% sure I’ve not broken anything. It just needs a bit of TLC.” She has pulled out of the time trial this Thursday partly due to back problems when using her time-trial bike but primarily to enhance her chances of winning on Sunday.

Thursday, on the other hand, is a key day for the former world time-trial champion Emma Pooley, who knew that as a flat race with cobbles, La Course was not suited to her climbing talent, and who is hoping that she will recover in time to push for a medal in Glasgow.

“This race is brilliant, better than piddling around drinking bottles of champagne,” said Pooley, one of the prime movers behind the petition which led to the creation of La Course. More seriously, she added: “I do feel it’s the start of a redevelopment of women’s cycling which currently is a massive missed opportunity.”