2021 Women's Olympic Road Race Race Preview
The details of this year's 2021 Women's Olympic Road Race are falling into place. Find the latest route profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
The road to Tokyo has been long and complicated, but the women's peloton finally arrives at one of the most anticipated races of the quadrennial cycle. The Olympic road race has a history of producing dramatic and often surprising results, and the course on offer this year looks set to reward the very best climbers in the world.
The route covers 137 kilometres, finishing with a brutal ascent of Fuji International Speedway after taking in the punishing climb of Mikuni Pass. The parcours is unforgiving and selective, and it seems almost certain to eliminate any rider who cannot handle repeated, sustained climbing. This is not a race for the sprinters or the classics specialists. It is a race for the pure climbers and the all-rounders who can suffer on the steepest gradients.
Anna van der Breggen enters the race as defending champion after her dominant performance in Rio five years ago, but the Dutch rider has announced her retirement from racing at the end of the season and may be riding with a different kind of freedom than usual. Her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten, however, is perhaps the single most feared rider in the field. The reigning world champion and one of the greatest climbers of her generation, Van Vleuten has been in blistering form throughout the season and will be enormously difficult to beat on a course seemingly designed for her particular talents. The Netherlands, with its extraordinary depth of talent, will be the team to watch and to fear.
Colombia's Sergio Higuita is not in this race, of course, but the nation does send a strong climbing contingent in the women's event. Rigoberto Uran's compatriots will be represented by riders who know how to handle altitude and gradient, even if the Dutch remain the heavy favourites.
Marianne Vos, ageless and endlessly resourceful, is another Dutch option and a former Olympic champion in her own right. Her ability to read a race, to accelerate at precisely the right moment and to produce a finish that defies categorisation makes her dangerous on almost any terrain. Whether the climbs here are ultimately too severe for her to contest the final places remains to be seen, but writing her off would be a significant mistake.
Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini and Elisa Balsamo form part of a strong Italian squad, and Longo Borghini in particular has the climbing credentials to feature prominently if the race unfolds in the right way for her. Great Britain will look to Dame Sarah Storey, but the road race will likely be decided by riders with more specialist mountain credentials.
Kasia Niewiadoma of Poland is another contender who deserves serious consideration. Tenacious, gifted on the climbs and capable of attacking from distance, she could be a major factor if she arrives in Tokyo in the form she has shown at her best in recent years.
The heat and humidity of a Japanese summer add an additional layer of complexity to proceedings. Riders will need to manage their hydration and their exertion carefully, and the physical demands of racing in such conditions should not be underestimated. Tactical decisions around when to attack and when to conserve energy could prove just as important as outright physical ability.
Ultimately, this looks like a race between Van Vleuten and the rest of the world. She has the climbing legs, the tactical intelligence and the motivational fuel of a rider who has waited a long time to claim this particular title. But the Olympics have a way of confounding expectations, and with a course this demanding, anything could happen in those final kilometres on the slopes of Fuji.
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