Lizzie grabs first GB medal
West Yorkshire cyclist Lizzie Armitstead will go down in the history books after winning Team GB's first medal of the London 2012 Olympics.
She missed out on the Gold medal to Holland's Marianne Vos in a sprint finish in the pouring rain on the Mall in central London.
But Vos admitted she was far from confident of beating Lizzie Armitstead in the sprint to the line.
The 25-year-old needed all of her power to deny Armitstead a home victory after they and Russian Olga Zabelinskaya were left standing after a four-strong breakaway, guaranteeing themselves at least a medal after a wet and wild 140-kilometre ride.
– Lizzie Armitstead"I'm really, really happy. Maybe later I'll start thinking about that gold, but I'm happy with silver at the moment. I was thinking about trying to play poker in the final and I sat on with about 3k to go and I thought that was my best chance and it came off. In retrospect I should have tried to jump Marianne but she's the fastest andI'm happy enough with silver."
Vos and Armitstead benefited from a succession of aggressive attacks from themselves and their team-mates in atrocious conditions.
– Marianne Vos, Olympic Women's Road Race champion"We made it a hard race with the Dutch squad - early attacks. That was the plan and then, during the race, I felt 'Well, maybe this might be the day that it's coming all together."
Today's medal is the first of any colour for Team GB at London 2012 after Great Britain's men failed to achieve a podium place in their road race yesterday.
– Lizzie Armitstead"It's something very special and it hasn't sunk in yet."
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