In dit kader wil ik niemand de observatie in Cycling News (vet gedrukt) onthouden.
Is Vos’ dominance under threat?
Since winning the road title for the first time in 2006, Marianne Vos had never finished lower than second in the road race. No matter what the course, she would make it onto the podium. Ponferrada marks the first time in her professional career that Vos leaves the road World Championships without a medal.
There are a number of factors in this. Vos saw a medal-winning chance go up in smoke during the team time trial, after a crash took out almost the entire team. It was just a minor setback, but one she could have done without. The important event was still ahead, the road race.
It looked like things were going to plan in the road race when she escaped off the front with three others. However,
Vos looked unusually cautious in this group of favourites, as they inexplicably sat up and allowed the chasers to close them down. For a rider who we are used to seeing take races by the scruff of the neck, it was a strange sight.
Vos has beaten all three of her escape companions in sprints in the past, and would have been the favourite to take victory from this select group, but they refused to work together. As the race approached the finish line, she did take up the sprint from the front but was swamped when the others followed suit. In stead it was her trade teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot that took the honours.
The Dutch rider rolled across the line in 10th and the disappointment was evident on her face. Prévot’s victory has shown that Vos is not the unbeatable rider she once was. This year’s world championships saw a large group of riders arriving in very good form and rarely have we seen so many potential contenders.
Vos will look at this race as a small blip on yet another superlative season and you can bet your house that she will be as good as ever in 2015. It won’t be as easy for her to win as it was in the past and her rivals have certainly closed the gap on the Queen of cycling. The depth of talent is as good as it ever has been in women’s cycling and, with teams getting ever more focussed and structures, this will only increase. (SO)