CYCLING: Australian Olympic debutant Tiffany Cromwell says she had nothing left in the tank after clinging to the peloton in the women's road race which was won by Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer on Sunday.
Kiesenhofer produced one of the upsets of the Tokyo 2020 Games when she took gold from a breakaway after 134km and denied the powerhouse Dutch three consecutive victories in the event.
Dutch superstar Annemiek van Vleuten took silver after mistakenly celebrating on the line believing she had won gold, not realising Kiesenhofer was 1min 15secs ahead, while Italian Elisa Longo Borghini claimed the bronze.
Cromwell rode hard to the line to finish 26th, 2min 56secs behind Kiesenhofer and was Australia's best placed rider after its co-leaders Grace Brown and Amanda Spratt were distanced by the peloton on a brutal course. Fellow Australian debutant Sarah Gigante finished 40th just over eight minutes behind the winner.
"It's obviously a huge honour and to have a pretty strong race today representing Australia is special," Cromwell said.
"It's a shame our plan didn't work out the way we wanted and obviously the other girls didn't have great legs today but I'm happy I kept fighting to the end.
"We didn't want to play our cards too early and wanted to force the Dutch to work, it was a risk letting the break go that big, so it was a gamble but we were ready to take that and for me it was more about looking after the girls with feeding and the earlier attacks.
"I knew I was going to struggle coming into the speedway the final time but I didn't sit up, I rode in all the way to the line and tried to get the best result for the team."
Brown, who finished 47th, said she simply didn't have the legs when the leaders attacked.
"It was harder than I expected really, the heat and the climbing was super taxing in the first 80km and everyone was on really good form," Brown said.
"I'm a little bit disappointed but also really proud to be here representing Australia and I have another opportunity (in the time trial) on Wednesday and have a lot of fire in my belly for that one now."
Huge effort from 20-year-old @SarahGigante, as she crosses the line in 40th place (4:01:08 +8:23) just in front of her @AusCyclingTeam teammate @GLBrown321 in 47th (4:02:16 +9:31)@AmandaSpratt one of 19 DNF after a very hot and hard race.#TokyoTogether #CyclingRoad pic.twitter.com/MOlYzJAFpe
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 25, 2021
Brown, 28 and Gigante, 20, will focus in recovery ahead of the Time Trial back at the Fuji International Speedway on Wednesday with riders starting at 12:30pm (AEST).
Reece Homfray
