2 World Road Race Championship | Bergen, Norway | 23 September

Just sometimes, a rider who isn’t seen as a big favourite jumps away to win a big race, when the circumstances mesh perfectly. It’s hard to think of Chantal Blaak as a rider who got lucky on one day – she’s a champion in her own right, with Gent-Wevelgem and the Dutch road race title in her locker already.

https://youtu.be/CcJ-spR1VTc

In a team stacked with talent and headed by Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen, Blaak was a support rider, someone programmed to burn every match to set up her leader. This may not necessarily have been a barn-stormer with blows traded like a boxing match, but it was dramatic nonetheless.

After climbing off the deck covered in road rash, after clawing her way to the front and then attacking to draw the sting out of the race, after getting into an elite seven-strong escape … Blaak rolled away down the left-hand side of the road after a parry from Annemiek Van Vleuten.

With two team-mates marking her opponents, Blaak just tucked in for the most crucial eight kilometres of pain she’s ever endured. Despite a desperate burst of chasing from Kasia Niewiadoma which drew her pursuers to with a dozen seconds, Blaak never faded.

https://twitter.com/ChantalBlaak/status/911686446855200768

She keeps the rainbow jersey at the Boels-Dolmans team for a third straight year. The Netherlands now hold the Olympic road race title (van der Breggen), the European road race title (Marianne Vos), the European TT title (Ellen Van Dijk), the Worlds ITT (Van Vleuten) and the world title.