"I had a shit day" was how Annemiek van Vleuten described her performance during the elite women's individual time trial at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships on Saturday in Wollongong, Australia.
The Olympic Champion and former two-time time trial World Champion told the press in the mixed zone that she knew from the start she wasn't in contention for a third world title in the discipline.
"I had the feeling that it was not possible today. When I left out of the gates hard, I had the feeling that I was already quite behind at the first intermediate point," Van Vleuten told reports at the finish line.
"I knew that I had a shit day. Afterward, when I look to my efforts power, I could see that I did not have a good day."
It was likely a bitter-sweet day for Van Vleuten because while she only managed seventh place in the time trial, her compatriot Ellen van Dijk won the world title for the second year in a row, and a third time in her career.
Van Vleuten finished the 34.2km time trial at 1:43 behind Van Dijk's winning time of 44:28.
At the intermediate checkpoints, Van Vleuten was 10th fastest at the first 7.2km point and had already lost 10 seconds. She was then eighth fastest at 34 seconds down at the 24.5km point.
"No, I had the feeling that it was not such a good day, and at the intermediate it was not so good, I heard that also, and then your confidence goes down. I don't have too much to say. It wasn't possible today. I didn't have a good day," Van Vleuten said.
It is a rarity to see the Dutch rider have a bad day after having delivered so consistently on her big goals this year, winning overall titles at the Giro d'Italia Donne, Tour de France Femmes and Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.
She has targeted the World Championships as her final event of the season and will now turn her attention to the mixed team relay on September 21 and the elite women's road race on September 24.
