Christine Majerus crosses finish lane in twentieth place, as Austria secure surprise gold

The Sunday race saw athletes cycle it out over 137 kilometres from Musashinomori Park to the Fuji Speedway motorsport race track. A breakaway group with Anna Plichta, Anna Kiesenhofer, and Omer Shapira led the race right from the beginning, even gaining a ten minute lead on the peloton at times.

When the gap remained at nine minutes 60 kilometres before the finish line, the main group of cyclists became nervous, but still, no individual rider seemed willing to pick up the pace.

53.5 kilometres before the end, Dutch athlete Annemiek van Vleuten took the initiative and launched an attack out of the peloton. 30 kilometres before the end, Luxembourg's Christine Majerus followed suit during one of the final descents of the race.

However, by that time, the advance of the breakaway group, now reduced to Anna Kiesenhofer as sole leader, was still too great at five minutes.

In the end, the Austrian rider prevailed and won the gold medal. Silver went to Annemiek van Vleuten, and bronze to Elisa Longo Borghini from Italy.