‘I was wrong’: Dutch cyclist van Vleuten thinks she’s won Olympic gold… only to discover Austrian rival has ALREADY crossed line

Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten thought she had scooped her country’s first gold medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics only to be told that Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer had already crossed the line more than one minute earlier.

In a stunning upset, the 30-year-old Kiesenhofer became the first person to win an Olympic road race medal from her homeland.

The Austrian – who is unsigned by a professional cycling team – was part of an early breakaway group in Tokyo before hitting the front on her own with around 40km to go.

Kiesenhofer never looked back, blitzing the field to finish the 137km course in a time of 3 hours, 52 minutes and 45 seconds.

Trailing her by 75 seconds was van Vleuten, who in confusing scenes was unaware that her rival had broken away to open up a major gap.

Instead, the Dutchwoman thought she had stolen a march on Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini to clinch gold, with van Vleuten stretching out her arms in celebration on crossing the finish line at the Fuji International Speedway.

However, after embracing her team with joy the 2019 world champion then appeared confused after being told of the result.

“I didn’t know. I was wrong. I didn’t know,” said the 38-year-old veteran, who had dusted herself off from a crash earlier during the race. 

The confusion was put down to the fact that riders in the Olympic road race cannot contact their teams via radios, meaning van Vleuten and her fellow Dutch riders – who were among the strong favorites for the title – were unaware that Kiesenhofer had surged ahead.

Summing up the chaos, Team GB rider Lizzie Deignan, who finished 11th, also thought van Vleuten had won.

“The best person won the bike race here today. Annemiek was clearly the strongest so, you know, shout out to her,” she told the BBC. 

The reality was more disappointment for van Vleuten, who was leading five years ago at the Rio Games before a horror crash left her with a concussion and three fractured bones in her lower back.

Meanwhile the shock triumph for Kiesenhofer, who is a mathematician and a graduate of Vienna and Cambridge universities, brought the first medal for Austria at this year's Tokyo Games. 

Van Vleuten (L) appeared to have recovered from the disappointment by the time the medals were handed out. © Reuters