Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig has expressed disappointment that bordered on annoyance and frustration over what she called a ‘passive’ women’s road race at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Sunday.
The Danish all-rounder finished 10th on the day but questioned the tactics of the major nations in the main field and chase group. “That is completely absurd,” she said in a report from Danish news outlet, Ekstra Bladet.
The main field was led in by a late attack from Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) nearly two minutes behind the early-breakaway and shock gold medal winner from Austria, Anna Kiesenhofer.
“If I’m to be completely honest then this [the race/what happened] was shit. It was a pretty bad representation of female cycling,” Uttrup Ludwig told.
“I have no clue what the big teams are doing. It was completely nuts. I’m just sitting there alone and thinking what the hell the big teams are doing.”
The elite women’s 137km road race started from Musashinonomori Park and included two mid-race climbs over Donushi Road and Kagosaka Pass, for 2,692 metres of elevation gain, before a punchy final at the Fuji International Speedway.
Kiesenhofer, who lined up with no teammates, was part of an early-race move with Carla Oberholzer (South Africa), Vera Looser (Namibia), Omer Shapira (Israel), and Anna Plichta (Poland) that gained more than 10 minutes on the main field.
Looser and Oberholzer later lost contact with the breakaway, but behind it was only the German team that showed any concerted effort to put forth a chase to catch the remaining three escapees.
