Annemiek van Vleuten gains ultimate redemption in women's cycling individual time trial
The Netherlands' rider, who missed out on gold in the road race after believing she had won, takes top spot in the individual time trial.
Cycling Road
Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands has won the women's individual time trial in spectacular fashion, finishing the 22.1km race in 30:13.49, a full 56.47 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Marlen Reusser.
The Dutch rider, who mistakenly believed she had triumphed in the women's road race last Sunday (25 July) before realising Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer had already passed the finish line, can now enjoy the sweetest redemption - an Olympic gold medal.
Behind her, Swiss rider Reusser took home an impressive silver medal in a time of 31:09.96, while the Netherlands' Anna van der Breggen joined her compatriot Van Vleuten on the podium after swiping bronze in 31:15.12.
Van Vleuten's story is an impressive tale of bouncing back from challenging situations. Five years ago at Rio 2016, she crashed heavily when leading the women's road race. When she also lost her chance of winning Sunday's equivalent, the pressure that mounted on her had the potential to crush her confidence.
But the Dutch cyclist showed nerves of steel to carry on: "My story started in Rio but the story has not ended yet, because I will not stop," she said after today's race, before turning her attention to the gold medal that now belongs to her.
"But this is really beautiful. It makes it extra beautiful... extra beautiful."
And the 38-year-old from Utrecht wasn't looking back at past failures when she pitted herself against the world's best in today's Olympic showpiece.
"If you know that you're really close to the gold sometimes you tend to think only about the mistakes you can make on this quite technical course, about the corners, about if it starts to rain or it's slippery, or that you make a mistake," she explained.
"But I was in a good flow today and I was not thinking about mistakes. I was turning it around, like, 'Where can I gain time?'"
The time she gained proved to be more than enough to secure her the victory - and with it the Olympic gold medal.