After a brisk morning, the sun came out in time for the start of the Elite Women's TT. Below: a staff member from USA Cycling carried American TT champion Alison Powers's bike after it passed UCI inspection.
You can always count on Croatia to have an eye catching kit.
Big cheers from the crowd for Belen Lopez, the first Spaniard of the afternoon. The Spanish national championships were held in Ponferrada this past June and Lopez was one of two riders today who had already competed on the course. The preview didn't seem to be anything of an advantage though, as she and her teammate, Lourdes Oyarbide, finished in 32nd and 34th, respectively.
I wandered down the course a couple of hundred meters and stopped at a nice left hand bend. Below: Jacqueline Hahn took the corner at full speed.
Alison Powers.
Chantal Blaak looked to add another medal to the gold one she picked up with Specialized Lululemon in Sunday's TTT.
I understand why Spain wear yellow and red, but why does Lithuania insist on ignoring the green in their flag?
Find the American cyclist in the photo below. Hint: she's not riding.
Canadian Karol-Ann Canuel, another gold medal member on the Specialized Lululemon squad.
I kept meaning to walk back up the course towards the start so I could cut across to the finish but I kept saying to myself, “Just one more rider…ok, one more rider…” And after a few riders had gone by, I heard, “Kathryn?!” What are the odds that Matthew, a friend from last year's Vuelta, would happen to get off a train and walk by me on the course just as I had been procrastinating moving! So he wheeled his luggage along and we moved back to the original turn. Below: Christine Majerus of Luxembourg.
Audrey Cordon.
Most of the earlier riders took the curve at a comfortable pace, but now that we had moved into the final 10 riders, a couple of them turn the corner so tight and so fast that I couldn't get a decent photo! Below: Katrin Garfoot.
Evie Stevens.
Linda Villumsen.
Reigning World TT champion Ellen Van Dijk from the Netherlands.
Dutch fans are the best.
With the last rider out of the start house, Matthew and I went to the finish and found spots with about 300 meters to go. The sky started to dramatically cloud over with just a handful of riders left to finish. Below: Solovey set the best time with 4 riders still out on the road.
And, of course, the Elite Women had the same problem the Junior Men had: finding their way home!
Stevens put in a good ride but was 3 seconds behind Solovey, putting her in second place.
Lisa Brennauer absolutely zoomed by, the very definition of full gas, destroying Solovey's time by 18 seconds.
The German was guaranteed a medal, but with 2 riders yet to finish, what color would it be?
Kiwi Villumsen, a favorite for the podium today, picked the wrong time to have an off day. She was bleeding time at the last checkpoint and finished in 9th at 1:14 back.
As Villumsen rode by, it began to rain lightly. It wasn't needed but I put on my rain coat anyway, mostly so that I wouldn't have to deal with carrying it anymore. Moments later, when the commentator announced that Van Dijk had hit the 1k to go flag, it began to pour. It was the kind of rain that made me think for too long about a really good simile that would accurately impress upon you, dear reader, the power and the volume of the rain and in the end, I've settled for a simple statement instead: it was raining really really hard! Van Dijk, who was 18 seconds down at the 21k time check, had no shot at making up so much time with just 8k left, especially on rainy roads. She lost her jersey, ultimately placing 7th, 1:11 behind Germany's Lisa Brennauer.
It's a good thing I knew my way around the course as I was able to take us on a shortcut through the mall (where it wasn't raining!) to reach the podium. The rain was coming down so hard that I didn't dare take out my camera but Stevens had such an enormous grin that I couldn't resist (of course, in this shot, she just has a regular smile, but you should have seen how giddy she was when she got on the stage!).
The podium: 1st Lisa Brennauer, 2nd Anna Solovey, 3rd Evie Stevens.