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Such was the bleakness of the weather and the ferocity of the downpour in Zürich on Saturday on the eve of the elite women’s race at the World Championships that Chloé Dygert had second thoughts about taking part at atll.
“This morning, I didn’t want to race,” she explained post-race. “So to come away with silver now I’m just sad that it’s not gold.”
It’s fortunate that she did climb aboard her Canyon, because the American battled back to finish second behind Lotte Kopecky of Belgium, the best result for the USA in the women’s road race since Inga Thompson in 1991.
It could have been gold, were she not coming up against the rider who is probably the best one-day rider of her generation, the defending champion, a rider with a superior sprint. Dygert was not back with the front group until well within the final kilometre, when she rejoined the four other leaders along with Ruby Roseman-Gannon of Australia.
After Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) kicked things off, Kopecky launched, and Dygert had to come the long way round just co challenge. It ended in with silver.
“I was boxed in,” Dygert said. “Now we can analyse it over and over again… If I had a do over I would have just attacked after Ruby came through. In a sprint with Kopecky, that’s probably the best I can do. That’s probably something I’ll have to work on.
“There was a point in the sprint where I wanted to go early, and I was too boxed in. I had to come a long way round and trying to sprint with Kopecky is not my thing.”
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Post-finish line, Dygert sat on the floor, in pain, unable to stop cramp in the leg which was seriously impacted by her crash at the 2020 Worlds. “That’s a pretty normal occurrence, especially when it’s cold,” she reassured. “I have to live with the pain.”
The silver medal in the elite road race joined Dygert’s bronze in the time trial last week to make for a pretty successful week for the USA women’s team. Add in Kristen Faulkner’s triumph at the Olympics in the road race, and gold in the team pursuit on the track, and it has been a banner year for the Americans.
“There were a couple cycles where at the Olympics we only had two spots,” Dygert said. “We had a lot of injuries and illnesses in USA cycling, in the women’s team. We have proved this year that we’re coming back and coming back strong. It has been super great to be a part of the US nation this year. We’re really strong, coming away with an Olympic gold, and now a Worlds silver. I’m proud to be an American.”
The rain and cold though, was the theme of the day. Listening to Dygert, it seemed impressive that she finished at all, let alone putting in a sprint to clinch silver.
“With one lap to go I was coming through and I was shaking so uncontrollably, I didn’t know if I’d be able to turn anymore, it was pretty cold,” she said. “To start off with I had a rain jacket on and I got hot pretty quick, so I took that off. When we were descending or going slow it was freezing, but luckily on the last lap I had to do a lot of chasing so I stayed warm.”
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