Annemiek van Vleuten posts Strava data from her magnificent 100km solo ride that claimed world title

The new world champion took 10 QOMs en route to victory

Annemiek van Vleuten on her way to winning the women's road race at the Yorkshire World Championships (Photo by Alex Whitehead-Pool/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Annemiek van Vleuten finally filled a gap in her already impressive palmarès when she crossed the finish line in Harrogate to take the rainbow jersey of the road race world champion.

The method of the Dutchwoman's victory will go down in history, with Van Vleuten having ridden 100km of the 149km course solo, holding the chase group and peloton at bay over the undulating Yorkshire roads.

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Van Vleuten finished more than two minutes ahead of the next rider, her team-mate Anna van der Breggen, sealing a Dutch one-two, with Australia's Amanda Spratt taking bronze.

It soon became clear that Van Vleuten was gone, though, and she has now posted the data on Strava to show just how she did it.

(Annemiek van Vleuten's world championship winning ride (Strava)

Van Vleuten was first across the line having completed the 149km course with 2,360m of elevation in just over four hours. Her average speed as she stole a march on the chase group behind was 36.3km/h, hitting a slightly terrifying maximum speed of 82.1km/h.

Her gut-busting ride burned 3,400 calories as she set an average cadence of 95, and took 10 Queen of the Mountains, one of which was on the Lofthouse climb where she launched her attack.

Van Vleuten completed the pivotal 16.45km effort in 26-14, posting an average speed of 37.6km/h as she rode away from the peloton and reached her max race speed of 82.1km/h as she descended away up the road.

Chloe Dygert was the next fastest woman in the field on this section, completing it 48 seconds slower at an average speed of 36.5km/h and an average power of 263 watts, as the American got herself into the chase group. Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini was third fastest on the section during the race, only three seconds slower than Dygert.

Van Vleuten's time was quicker than a number of male riders who completed the section on the second stage of the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire from Tadcaster to Harrogate, which Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) won in a bunch sprint.

Former Madison-Genesis rider Matt Cronshaw was the quickest over the section on that day, completing it in 26-51, 37 seconds slower than Van Vleuten, while Conor Swift (Arkéa-Samsic) was only one second quicker than Dygert over the section, with Harry Tanfield (Katusha-Alpecin) posting the same time as the American.

In the final few kilometres, Van Vleuten slowed right down to around 22km/h, soaking in the victory as she was cheered on by the large crowds that had packed the roadsides into Harrogate.

Van Vleuten's was a ride that will live long in the memory, of both fans and Strava users, who will have some challenge beating the QOMs set by the new world champion.

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Hi. I'm Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.


Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).


I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.