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Lotte Kopecky gained a second straight world highway race title on Saturday, forward of American Chloe Dygert and Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini.
On a hilly 2024 route round Zurich on a chilly and wet day, a slower than anticipated tempo allowed Kopecky to thrive whereas Dygert nearly stole the title with a late cost from behind after Longo Borghini began the dash from 250 metres.
The powerfully constructed Kopecky had been slated as doubtless being much less comfortable on the rolling Zurich route than the flatter Glasgow one the place she gained in 2023.
The 28-year-old Olympic bronze medallist at Paris instantly devoted her new world title to junior rider Muriel Furrer, who died after a fall on Friday.
“The minute of silence at the start, seeing the Swiss riders crying is just something you don't want to see and I think it's a very hard moment for them as well,” stated the Belgian.
“First of all, I want to bring my condolences to the family of Muriel.”
The race embarked from the beautiful city of Uster and raced absolutely across the close by Greifensee lake, a widely known mountain climbing and biking vacation spot.
The high-quality highway floor of the four-lap circuit round Zurich, that includes loads of rolling terrain in addition to quick, steep sections, sparked a collection of assaults that whittled down the scale of the peloton.
The Dutch crew led by Demi Vollering set a excessive tempo tempo, contemplating the rain, and whereas she was within the six-rider group sprinting for the road she didn't make the rostrum having began as favorite to win.
“It was raining and cold and I was already frozen three laps from the end. So I was just trying to remain calm,” defined Kopecky, who gained Paris-Roubaix's cobbled traditional in comparable circumstances again in April.
“When Demi attacked on the long climb I followed my own rhythm. In the end it was a war of nerves.”
Vollering completed fifth after being pipped by an agonising 4 seconds to the Tour de France title this season, leaving her saying she felt “sour”.
Vollering had dropped Kopecky with 17km to go, however as a result of massive variety of riders nonetheless collectively the lead group didn't type a working settlement to distance the Belgian.
One of the shock drop-outs was Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the Frenchwoman opting to climb again into the crew bus after the primary lap of Zurich.
Tour de France winner Kasia Niewiadoma additionally dropped out early.
Earlier on Saturday, International Cycling Union (UCI) chief David Lappartient urged followers to await a police report on Furrer, who died after a fall on rain-slicked roads in the course of the junior race.
“I will not comment directly about this because there are ongoing investigations from the police, that's their job, I can't answer,” stated the UCI president.
“Everybody has their mission when it comes to an accident like this, it's up to the police to establish everything.”
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