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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Austrian Kiesenhofer pulls off women's road race Games upset
By DAVE SKRETTA OYAMA, Shizuoka©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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sunfunbun
Both the men and women's road races showed how this team sport becoming an individual one for the Olympics led to confusion. With no radios and individuals on teams not working together well, one could constantly see riders wanting someone to take the lead of the peloton and make it go, but no one would. I don't know if that was mostly selfishness or what, but no one would commit, and in the end the giant that is the Netherlands reaped what they sowed, lost and looked rather silly, as their 'gold or failure' came to light as they, indeed, failed.
When Kiesenhofer won, as the other women finished, at first, no one congratulated or acknowledged her. It looked like bad sportsmanship, and maybe it was, because even after the result was known, I didn't see riders come up to give her kudos.
I was glad to see her win. She pulled off a great win as the only rider from Austria. A great accomplishment by a David beating the Goliaths.
Alfie Noakes
They didn't know she'd won. Owing to a bizarre breakdown in communication the Dutch woman who finished second actually thought she'd won the race:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/25/anna-kiesenhofer-claims-shock-road-race-glory-as-van-vleuten-mistakes-silver-for-gold-olympics
The winner has a mathematics degree from Cambridge and a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Smart lady, always nice to see an underdog winning.