Annemiek van Vleuten started celebrating, until learning that little-known Anna Kiesenhofer had crossed the line 75 seconds earlier.
For nearly a minute, van Vleuten believed as much. Other top cyclists congratulated her, and some even went into post-race interviews still believing as much.
“Annemiek was clearly the strongest, so, y’know, a shout-out to her,” said Briton Lizzie Deignan, who finished 11In one of the most shocking upsets in the history of cycling, Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer won gold, crossing the finish line a full minute and 15 seconds ahead of van Vleuten, 1:29 ahead of bronze medallist Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy, 1:39 ahead of fourth-place finisher Lotte Kopecky of Belgium, and 1:46 in front of the peloton comprising 11 of the world’s other top road racers.
Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer, the actual gold medal winner, celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the women’s cycling road race of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.Along with two other bold, unheralded cyclists — Omer Shapira of Israel and Anna Plichta of Poland, per reports — Kiesenhofer bolted far out in front of the pack of favourites in the 137-km race, which wound from the Tokyo suburbs to the mountains approaching Mount Fuji.
The trio raced 10 minutes ahead of the others at one point. Unheard of, even in an Olympic road race. Only unlike the other two rabbits, the Austrian simply refused to eventually fall all the way back and out of contention, as is always expected — in any race. In fact, Kiesenhofer remained so far ahead, the world’s top cyclists never saw her and, consequently, lost track of her.AdvertisementSilver medallist Netherlands’ Annemiek Van Vleuten puts on her medal.
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