Van der Breggen does double as Dutch dominate

ANNA van der Breggen brought the Netherlands its fourth consecutive world title in the elite women’s road race at the 2020 UCI Road World Championships in Imola.

It was her second world title in three days having also won the time trial on Thursday, an accomplishment that has not been done since Frenchwoman Jeannie Longo won both titles in 1995.

“It’s incredible. It was a really hard race and there was fighting from the beginning. The climbs were really tough and on the penultimate lap I felt strong and we discussed in front trying to make the race hard. We did it and I just went for it,” Van der Breggen said.

“I thought that in the last lap everyone would be tired and that it would be difficult to make the difference on the climbs so I went but it was really far.

“I didn’t think about Innsbruck in the race (where she won the world title in 2018).

“The circuit here was different and it had some flat parts. It was hard all the same, but I’m really happy.

“I never expected this. It’s incredible.

“The season has been incredible so far. It’s everything behind each other but if you’re in shape then it’s also a good thing.

“I’m pretty tired now but the season so far has been pretty good for me.”

Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands), who came into the race with a broken wrist, secured the silver medal after a two-up sprint with Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) on the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Marianne Vos (Netherlands) secured fourth place from a reduced chase-group sprint whhich also included Britain’s Lizzie Deignan - giving the Netherlands three places in the top four.