2008 UCI Road World Championships – Women's Road Race
2008 UCI Road World Championships_pictogram.svg) Participating nations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite events | ||||
| Elite road race | men | women | ||
| Elite time trial | men | women | ||
| Under-23 events | ||||
| Under-23 road race | men | |||
| Under-23 time trial | men | |||
| Qualification | ||||
The women's road race of the 2008 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on 27 September in Varese, Italy. The course comprised eight laps around a 17.35-kilometre route, making a total distance of 138.8 km. Each lap featured two ascents: the first at Montello (6.5% gradient for 1.15 kilometres); and the second at Ronchi (4.5% for 3.13 kilometres). The race included a total of 1,937 metres of climbing.
Pre-race favourites included Varese local rider Noemi Cantele and her team mates Tatiana Guderzo and Giorgia Bronzini, Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, Judith Arndt of Germany (champion in 2004), reigning Olympic champion Nicole Cooke and silver medallist Emma Johansson. Notably missing from the start list was Marta Bastianelli, reigning champion from 2007, who was awaiting a verdict on a non-negative drug test result in July 2008.
The race was won by Great Britain's Nicole Cooke, with Marianne Vos and Judith Arndt finishing with the same time, second and third respectively. Cooke was the first British woman to win the race since Mandy Jones in 1982.
Not long after the race began, a Swedish rider brought down the front row of the peloton when her tyres slipped on some painted letters on the road. Christine Thorburn was also brought down in a crash, when she was squeezed up against a fence. Although she was not severely injured and did attempt to chase the bunch, she failed to make contact and did not finish.
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