Cycling World Championships 2019: Van Vleuten takes road race glory – as it happened

Marianne Vos kicks clear of the peloton in a crowd-pleasing final sprint. Lizzie Deignan ultimately crossed as part of the bunch in 31st place, at 5:31 off the front.

Van der Breggen crosses in second, 2:15 back. And despite Spratt – who finished runner-up last year – digging in at the finish, she just couldn’t get back to the champion.

Dygert’s valiant chasing effort was ultimately in vain, as she finishes fourth, 3:24 behind the leader. She is absolutely spent. They all are, to be fair.

1km to go. It’s Van Vleuten, Van der Breggen, Spratt, in that order. But the places on the podium won’t reflect the dominance of the victor.

2.5km to go. Van Vleuten is smiling for the cameras and gesturing for the crowds to roar her in. She knows she has it in the bag. Things haven’t gone completely as planned for Dutch riders this week, particularly in the women’s time trial, but this is a performance to treasure.

6km to go. And no mistake, the race for gold in this race is all about Van Vleuten. With breakaways, it’s incredibly easy to ignore the rider out front and concentrate on the efforts of those hammering it out for the minor places. This has been an almost 100km solo effort from last year’s time-trial winner. It’s been an absolutely phenomenal performance.

9km to go. Spratt has a go. With Van der Breggen having taken most of the initiative in chasing down Dygert, the Australian rider tests the champion.

Van Vleuten’s lead is 2:19 and, with so little road ahead, at this stage she could get off for a quick walk around and still have time in hand.

No response from Dygert, and she’s stuck fast in fourth at this stage.

14km to go. Van Vleuten takes the bell, and she’s being roared through by the fans roadside.

Dygert is rocking slightly, and is being reeled in by Van der Breggen and Spratt. As she takes the bell, the gap is nine seconds to the riders in third and fourth.

Longo Borghini, blowing hard, is 30 seconds behind in fifth.

15km to go. Van der Breggen, last year’s winner, looks like she’s not just trying to fight for the bronze medal. The gold looks like it’s gone, but both she and Spratt smell silver.

Van Vleuten is 2:15 clear out front. At this stage if she stays on her bike, she wins.

20km to go. Van der Breggen, Spratt and Longo Borghini smell blood. The trio currently fighting it out for third place may soon be duking it out for silver, as they hit a long straight stretch of road where they can count the gap out for themselves. Dygert isn’t done, however, and has pulled a few more seconds out.

21km to go. Suddenly, the chase is flagging. With 23.7km to go, Dygert showed signs of flagging somewhat in second place. After a hell of an effort, the gap is 20 seconds ahead of the chase trio, but falling back from Van Vleuten. Signs of grimacing and after looking like having silver in her grasp, she may soon face a challenge to get a medal at all.

Van Vleuten’s putting in one hell of a solo effort up front and still looks so strong. She has a lead of precisely 2:00.

25km to go. Dygert is not messing about with her racing line – some of her cornering is alarmingly close to the barriers. As she reaches the two-laps-to-go mark, the gap from second to first is 1:49. At this rate it will take a huge dip from Van Vleuten to help her cause, but the American is clearly the rider of interest as far as the destiny of the medals is concerned. She has a 28-second cushion from the chasers.

Deignan’s podium hopes may be done – she is exactly three minutes back from Van Vleuten as she crosses the line with two circuits remaining. The peloton is 4:38 back from the lead.

29km to go: Van Vleuten’s lead has just dipped back under two minutes. And it’s falling all the time. This is an incredible effort from Dygert. At 28km, it’s down to 1:54. There’s two laps to go.

30km to go. Dygert is now 17 seconds clear of the chase group. Van der Breggen is working hard on the Oak Beck climb to close in with Spratt and Longo Borghini in tow, but the American’s move looks decisive. Dygert looks set to pull the gap to leader Van Vleuten back under two minutes.

Home hope Deignan isn’t done entirely and looks to be closing back in on the chasers, but it will take some ride for her to get a medal here.

40km to go. Afternoon all, Stuart here and enormous thanks to Tom for an epic stint across road and rugby madness today.

The gap from leader Van Vleuten briefly reached the 2:45 mark, but Dygert is having another go at the front of the chase group, and that time is coming down. Some untidiness handing over to riders in the feed zone resulted in at least one briefly being unseated, but thankfully nothing too serious.

45km to go. Van Vleuten, a time trial specialist, now has 2min 10secs on the chasing group so talk on TV turns to solo victories. The Dutch leader is nearing the start of the circuit so the group behind will have to put in a concerted effort to catch her, which all suits Van der Breggen who has done no work. That it for me on the blog, I am handing you over to my colleague Stuart Goodwin to see over the line.

50km to go. Deignan is forcing the pace at the front of the group but Van Vleuten remains well ahead, some 1min 35secs. Further back the Dutch have posted a rider on the front of the main bunch, perhaps an effort to bring this back together.

55km to go. Deignan makes a burst off the front of the chase group to test the legs of those around her. The group remains together but the Briton will have a better idea of who can go with her should she try a more sustained breakaway.

63km to go. Ven Vleuten has stretched her lead out to 1min 20secs as we go over a lumpy section before the Harrogate circuits.

71km to go. An update on the chasing group, Deignan is alongside Van der Breggen (NED), Elisa Longo Borghini, Soraya Paladin (ITA), Clara Koppenburg (GER), Amanda Spratt (AUS), Chloe Dygert (USA) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (DEN).

73km to go. The time gaps are fluctuating but Van Vleuten is holding strong at the front. She will be concerned that she has been unable to stretch the gap further.

On the side of the roads the Yorkshire crowds are deep and loud, they have also been blessed with sunshine in late September too.

80km to go. The peloton is going backwards, the chase riders have about 3mins on the bunch behind, Van Vleuten is holding her gap.

87km to go. The gap to Van Vleuten is coming down a bit, back below 50 seconds. Behind Deignan and co., the likes of Marianne Vos and Chantal Blaak are losing time in the main peloton. The gap is about 1min 20 secs between the peloton and the chasers, meaning that currently only Dutch riders are in any position to win. Currently the Netherlands are wasting the majority of their deep squad.

97km to go. Alongside Deignan in the chasing group we have Van der Breggen (NED), Elisa Longo Borghini, Soraya Paladin (ITA), Clara Koppenburg (GER), Amanda Spratt (AUS), Chloe Dygert, Tayler Wiles , Ruth Winder (USA), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (DEN) and Ashleigh Pasio-Moolman (RSA).

101km to go. Van Vleuten is haring down the hill, she has 1min 10secs on the chasers.

103km to go. Van Vleuten has got out to about a 55 seconds on the chasers, there is not a lot of the climb left. Deignan has a little dart and takes a few riders with her, whittling down the group further.

104km to go. Annemiek van Vleuten is putting the pedal down and Deignan initially started to go with her before opting to ride within herself. The two-time time trial world champion is pulling away but there is an elite group behind her, featuring Deignan and Anna van der Breggen.

109km to go. Just a few more kilomtres before we hit Lofthouse. There is a bit of jostling from the major teams to ensure they are well positioned for the climb.

Lizzie Deignan’s husband Philip has a neat preview of what’s to come on the Harrogate circuit:

119km to go. The British team are together at the front of the peloton as they go through a more serene part of the course. We get the major climb in about 12 kilometres, that should liven things up a bit.

128km to go. Banks goes down again at the back of the peloton, again it is nothing serious but New Zealand’s Ella Banks suffers a lengthier bike issue and loses about 30 seconds in a bike change.

129km to go. The Dutch are not holding back, sending Floortje Mackaij up the road now the peloton will have to chase briefly. With an eight woman squad to draw on, the Netherlands can throw a few different looks at the peloton.

130km to go. We already have a bit of a split in the peloton on Norwood Edge as the Dutch pace us up the hill. It is only a two kilometre climb but it is enough to do some damage and we have already whittled down the front group to around 40 riders.

135km to go. We have had about 14 kilometres since the flag dropped in Bradford and we will soon be heading up the course’s two climbs, Norwood Edge and the Lofthouse. They are unlikely to be decisive, with the real action to unfold on circuits around Harrogate. Deignan is well set but there was a brief scare for teammate Lizzy Banks, with a little technical issue, but she got back on.