Eileen van Dijk wins her second cycling world title

Brugge, Belgium (AFP) – Eight years after claiming her first world title, Eileen van Dijk carved her way to a second gold medal in the women’s time test on Monday.

The 34-year-old Dutch rider took advantage of a flat course through Flanders, Belgium, while keeping her bike pedals in perfect cadence to beat her nearest rival Marlene Rosser of Switzerland by 10.29 seconds in the world of road cycling. tournaments.

Van Dijk, who won her first world title in 2013, said: “For me, time-testing is my favorite discipline. It’s something I love with all my heart, and I feel like it’s my specialty. I knew it was going to be a really good course for me, and I did everything I could.” In this is a dream come true.”

While Van Dijk maintained a solid pace on the 30.3km track, Reusser eventually ran out of gas and had to take second place on the day she turned 30. She also took home a silver medal last year and was a runner-up at the Olympics this summer.

Reusser drove in both intermediate checks, but faded in the last 10km.

“The last couple of weeks she’s hitting me on every try so I knew it was going to be really tough and I’d have to give my best try ever,” said Van Dijk. “When I saw that she finally lost seconds, I didn’t believe it at all. It was a dream for so long.”

Van Dyck was so fast that she caught Lisa Klein in the remaining 9.5 kilometers before finishing in the historic center of Bruges, the city known as the Venice of the North for its picturesque canals and bridges. The German jumped off the starting slope 1 minute, 30 seconds before Van Dijk.

Olympic champion Animek van Vleuten, another Dutch rider, was third, more than 24 seconds off the lead. Two-time world champion Amber Neppen, the American, 46, finished fourth just weeks after breaking her pelvis during a training session.

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