Annemiek van Vleuten cleared to start elite women’s road world championships road race

This article originally appeared on Velo News

Annemiek van Vleuten got the green light to race for her second road world title.

The Dutch federation confirmed Friday that the 39-year-old was good to go after a heavy fall in the UCI Road World Championships mixed relay TTT Wednesday left her battered, bruised, and suffering a fractured elbow.

“Very nice news from Wollongong: Annemiek van Vleuten will ride the road race at the world championships on Saturday. A final test today showed that the recovery was sufficient to be able to participate,” read a statement from the Dutch camp.

The 2019 road world champion and double time trial rainbow jersey suffered a dramatic fall in the opening of her ride in the team time trial Wednesday.

A heavy fall on her right-hand side left Van Vleuten visibly stunned and walking off the race course with the help of two team staffers.

Van Vleuten was later cleared to keep riding with what was diagnosed a “stable fracture,” but her team sat wait-and-see over whether she could tolerate the torment of a race set to stretch far beyond four hours.

The good news Friday will come as a coup for the already stellar Dutch squad.

Van Vleuten, Marianne Vos, Demi Vollering, and Ellen Van Dijk will lead the team Saturday as it looks to reclaim its stranglehold on the rainbow jersey after Elisa Balsamo ended a four-year run of dominance with her golden sprint in Leuven last year.

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