There was golden joy for the USA last weekend as Kristen Faulkner upset the likes of Marianne Vos and Lotte Kopecky to take the victory in the women’s road race at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The first American gold medallist in the women’s road race since all the way back in 1984 when Connie Carpenter took the victory in Los Angeles, Faulkner’s triumph was a massive moment stateside. “What a story!” Lance Armstrong reflected on the latest episode of his ‘The Move’ podcast. “She grew up in Homer, Alaska. Like I thought that was a character on The Simpsons. I didn’t even know that was a place.”
Faulkner’s career to Olympic triumph wasn’t always a straight one either with the American former rower only turning to cycling relatively late on and then not initially even being part of the USA lineup for the women’s road race. “It is actually decent crossover sports-wise from rowing to cycling,” analyses Armstrong. “She made the leap and left her job, dedicated her life to to being a professional cyclist and now she’s a gold medallist.”
“It was strategic and tactical at the end, but there were no gifts there. Sometimes in a race like the Olympic Road Race, there can be some chance and some luck involved. To be there with Lotte Kopecky and to just put the hammer down, it was so impressive,” continues Armstrong warmly.
“She was the strongest by far,” adds Johan Bruyneel. “If you look at the race, and the same happened in the in the men’s race, it was basically a race between Belgium and Holland. Those were the two strong teams with the strong favourites. But Kristen Faulkner was there when the move went. She was the driving force first of all. When she goes, Kopecky could barely follow her, she was on the limit and you could clearly see that Kopecky only took a turn when Faulkner slowed down. There was no luck involved, she was clearly the strongest.”
