U.S. cyclist Kristen Faulkner wins shocking gold medal in women’s road race

Back in the peloton, the main group of riders, the strong Netherlands team of Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes, Ellen van Dijk and Vos led the group while biding their time. Kopecky, the current world champion, also remained in the group. Kopecky won 11 races in the season leading up to the Olympics.

With 100km (62 miles) to go and headed into the second climb of the day, the lead group of Jencusova, Gafinovitz, and Yulduz, which at that point included sister Fariba, Vietnam’s Thi That Nguyen and Independent athlete Hanna Tserakh with a 5:18 lead over the main group — the largest lead of the day.

Halfway through the race, the peloton quickened the pace and started to chip away at the lead. Entering the final climb before the city circuit, where the bulk of the action occurred in the men’s race, van Dijk closed the gap to 3:36. By the time the race entered the city again, the lead was down to just two minutes.

The peloton caught Fariba and Tserakh, who had separated, as the group began the climb on the Cote de la Butte Montmartre. Disaster struck for American Chloe Dygert on the first turn of the climb when she crashed near the front of the main group. The crash, in the narrowest part of the road, caused a split in the large peloton group with many medal favorites caught in the carnage.

Dygert won the bronze medal in the women’s time trials earlier in the Games. She also suffered a nasty crash in the race and had to be helped off her bike. In the road race, she eventually hopped back on her bike, but at that point was well behind. 

Faulkner managed to stay ahead of the crash. She executed an attack and took the lead in the race with Spain’s Mavi Garcia. Gold medal contenders Kopecky and Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini also emerged ahead of the crash. 

Entering the final climb of the Montmartre, Vos and Hungary’s Blanka Vas separated from the main lead pack for a 30 second lead.

On the final climb, Faulkner and Kopecky executed an impressive climb to close the gap behind the lead pair to five seconds. With her parents in attendance, Faulkner left her competitors speechless as she surged ahead down the stretch, leaveing no room for pursuit, to secure the gold medal. She accomplished the feat on the 40th anniversary of the last (and only) American gold in this event, won by Connie Carpenter-Phinney at the 1984 Games.

Faulkner on her aggressive attack: “I knew I had to attack them as soon as we caught them. I knew they were sprinters. But I knew they didn’t want to work together – they were three different countries. I knew if I got a small gap they would have to race for second.”

After the move, she tried to keep her focus, “I just counted to 10 about 10 times until I hit the finish line.”

Dygert had an impressive push to get back in the race, but it was too little too late as she ran out of time and ultimately finished 15th.