Shocked Armitstead's joy tinged with hint of regret over road race silver
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UPDATED:
18:00 GMT, 29 July 2012
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Lizzie Armitstead admitted to having a hint of regret despite overcoming the elements to claim Great Britain's first medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games with women's road race silver.
The 23-year-old from Otley finished runner-up to prolific winner Marianne Vos of Holland in the 140-kilometre road race, which featured two ascents of Box Hill, as once again a cyclist proved to be an Olympic trailblazer for Britain.
Jason Queally claimed gold on day one of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Sir Chris Hoy the first gold of the Athens Games and Nicole Cooke won the opening medal with victory in the women's road race in Beijing four years' ago.
Cooke's success came in torrential rain by the Great Wall of China and Armitstead battled similar conditions in sodden Surrey before sprinting on The Mall, only for Vos to prove too strong with the line in sight. Russia's Olga Zabelinskaya was third.
Silver service: Lizzie Armitstead won silver, behind Marianne Vos and ahead of Olga Zabelinskaya
Asked if she had lost the gold or won
the silver, Armitstead said: 'I won the silver. I'm just so happy that I
committed to the breakaway. I was there with Marianne Vos and she's the
best rider in the world on most kinds of courses.
'My only regret is that I didn't try
to jump her earlier in the sprint. She is faster than most of the girls
on the circuit so I'm pretty chuffed with silver.'
It was a gutsy ride in a pulsating three-and-a-half-hour race which was aggressive from the start.
Dutch delight: Vos claimed victory on The Mall with a well-timed sprint in the driving rain
Armitstead
revelled in the conditions and was part of the crucial four-rider
break, 45km from the finish, initiated by Zabelinskaya, with Vos and
Shelley Olds also following.
American
Olds punctured to fall back to the main pack and Germany, the United
States and others attempted to pull the trio back, but they were able to
hold off the charging peloton.
Armitstead
added: 'I hate racing in the heat. The harsher the conditions the
better for me. I've been praying for rain, particularly when we were in
the breakaway and there was a real downpour.
Home support: As with the men's race, fans packed the side of the road throughout the course
'The
break had more chance of working in those conditions. I couldn't see
and had to take my glasses off and lost my lucky glasses, but never
mind.'
The sunglasses
will likely have been collected by one of the thousands of spectators
who lined the course despite the inclement weather.
One
disadvantage of the elements was the lack of information from race
officials, with the rain troubling the man on the motorbike providing
the time checks.
Armitstead
added: 'The guy's pen wasn't working on the whiteboard because of the
rain. He was giving us a bit of sign language. The important ones came
through and the noise pushed us all the way to finish.'