Kristen Faulkner (USA) soloed to victory in the women’s Olympic road race after attacking in the final 3 kilometers from a breakaway group that contained Marianne Vos (NL), Lotte Kopecky (BE), and Blanka Vas (HU). Finishing almost one minute later, the group of three sprinted for the remaining medals, with Vos narrowly outsprinting Kopcky and Vas for the silver, and Kopecky barely taking the bronze ahead of Vas.
Faulkner explained afterwards that she knew she had to attack if she hoped to win. “There were a few moments when Kopecky didn’t want to cooperate, but I had to let her work. I knew how much she wanted to win and get to the front. But I also knew that I would have to attack, because I normally couldn’t beat any of them in the sprint. The best place to attack was right after we came together. Everyone was tired and that was my chance. I had tried my late attack a few times this year. I felt very comfortable with it, I had practiced it well. And it worked.”
Faulkner credit her past experience as venture capitalist as an advantage. “This was a great example today. There was a lot of reward ratio I had to assess during the race. I had to be patient, I had to know when to be aggressive, be able to be patient in the right moments and pull back, and then know when to go all in. I think that’s something I learned from my finance days.”
Vos hoped for gold, but didn’t have the legs to respond to Faulkner. “It’s a medal, but we went for gold as the Netherlands. That didn’t work out, but I did what I could. We’ll look back later, but now we have to let this sink in first. I’m completely exhausted now, I gave it my all. There are always moments when you could have done differently. We had a strong leading group, then it’s a game. In the end, the only things left are sore legs.”
For Kopecky, getting caught behind the crash and having to catch the two leaders was too much. “For me it was a shit final. For the first time in Montmartre I was already a bit behind. I had to make an effort there, or I would never have gotten back into the race. When she (Faulkner) went, the three of us looked at each other and it was done. I already knew that it would be difficult to win the race, so I came here for a medal. I am very proud that I succeeded.”
RESULTS
Women’s Olympic Road Race
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