“Giorgia is a fantastic sprinter, she won in a great way. Of course you think back about whether you made a mistake in the sprint, but I didn’t. She was the best.” Marianne Vos
Often when we think about the World Champion, our minds go straight to these characters: Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd, Alfredo Binda, Cadel Evans, Marco Battini, Eddy Merckx, or Lance Armstrong. They all have one thing in common, and it is not balls (at least one of them has fewer than the usual number), but they still have the other thing in common. Even if you Google Cycling World Champions, the men’s road race is at the top. None of this is surprising. If you Google Presidents of the United States, you get a list of men only.
But in Boise, Idaho, where Jonathan Hero lives, we are proud to call a world champion our neighbor: Kristin Armstrong (obviously she has something in common with one of the men above – less than two balls).
This year Kristin returned to professional cycling and returned to the World Championships. Three hours later she returned home. This was because another cyclist, Amber Neben, was chosen to compete in the time trial. The decision had to do with placement in said event during the previous year, etc. Even though Kristin is the current gold medal holder in the Olympic time trial, she was still not chosen. The obvious problem with this decision is that she did not find out until she was in Copenhagen. The other problem is that she is Jonathan’s hometown hero and it would have been nice to see her compete. And yet another and perhaps the most troubling problem is that Kristin’s early departure meant she would not compete in the road race.
Giorgia Bronzini – whom you may know from such World Championships as the 2010 Elite Women’s Road Race World Championships in Melbourne – did compete in the road race. And, as she did in Melbourne, she won. She did so in a thrilling sprint finish which looked to favor Marianne Vos, but Giorgia took the title. Marianne was gracious in her loss: “Giorgia is a fantastic sprinter, she won in a great way. Of course you think back about whether you made a mistake in the sprint, but I didn’t. She was the best.” (Cycling News). To us, it looked like Vos had made a mistake; or, if we don’t want to blame Vos, a mistake happened to her. It appeared that she took the wrong wheel.
Congratulations Giorgia Bronzoni.