The women's road race was one of 18 cycling events of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The event was held on 7 August 2016 at Fort Copacabana and was won by Anna van der Breggen from the Netherlands.

During the race, Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten crashed on the steep descent from Vista Chinesa while leading the race, just from the finish. The crash knocked her unconscious, and she was hospitalised with three lumbar spinal fractures and a severe concussion. Van Vleuten recovered, and returned to competition a month later.

Qualification

Course The women's course was long. Starting at Fort Copacabana, the peloton headed west to pass through Ipanema, Barra, and Reserva Maripendi Beaches via the coastal road leading to the Pontal / Grumari circuit loop. After two laps of the Grumari sector , the course returned east via the same coastal road to enter the Vista Chinesa circuit loop at Gávea for one lap of the circuit before finishing back at Fort Copacabana. As with all road races during the Olympic Games, law enforcement escorted the athletes to keep them and bystanders safe during the competition. The Brazilian Federal Highway Police (PRF) were assigned the duty to escort the athletes during the 2016 Olympics.

Start list

The following NOCs had qualified riders to compete in the road race event. The following riders were confirmed by their respective NOCs.

NOC # Athletes Confirmed Athletes Ref 4 Gracie ElvinKatrin GarfootRachel NeylanAmanda Spratt* 1 Martina Ritter* 1 Olena Pavlukhina* 3 Ann-Sophie DuyckLotte KopeckyAnisha Vekemans 1 Alena Amialiusik* 2 Clemilda FernandesFlávia Oliveira 3 Karol-Ann CanuelLeah KirchmannTara Whitten* 1 Paola Muñoz Grandon* 1 Ana Cristina Sanabria Sánchez * 1 Arlenis Sierra* 1 Antri Christoforou* 1 Ane Santesteban 1 Lotta Lepistö 2 Pauline Ferrand-PrévotAudrey Cordon 3 Lizzie ArmitsteadNikki HarrisEmma Pooley* 4 Lisa BrennauerRomy KasperClaudia LichtenbergTrixi Worrack* 1 Shani Bloch* 4 Elisa Longo BorghiniGiorgia BronziniTatiana GuderzoElena Cecchini* 1 Eri Yonamine* 1 Ah Reum Na* 1 Daiva Tušlaitė* 2 Christine MajerusChantal Hoffmann* 1 Carolina Rodriguez Gutierrez* 1 Vera Adrian* 4 Marianne VosAnna van der BreggenEllen van DijkAnnemiek van Vleuten 1 Vita Heine* 1 Linda Villumsen* 3 Katarzyna NiewiadomaMałgorzata JasińskaAnna Plichta* 2 Ashleigh MoolmanAn-Li Kachelhoffer* 1 Olga Zabelinskaya* 1 Polona Batagelj* 1 Jolanda Neff 3 Emma JohanssonSara MustonenEmilia Fahlin 1 Jutatip Maneephan* 1 Huang Ting-ying* 1 Hanna Solovey* 4 Mara AbbottKristin ArmstrongMegan GuarnierEvelyn Stevens* 1 Jennifer Cesar*

* ref:

Over time limit (OTL) Under UCI regulations for one-day road races (article 2.3.039), "Any rider finishing in a time exceeding that of the winner by more than 5% shall not be placed".

Result

+ Final resultsRank Rider Time s.t. s.t.4 + 4" 5 + 20" 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 + 1' 14" 10 s.t. Final Classification (11– 50) 11 s.t. 12 + 1' 16" 13 + 2' 16" 14 + 2' 19" 15 + 4' 09" 16 + 4' 25" 17 + 4' 56" 18 + 5' 07" 19 s.t. 20 s.t. 21 s.t. 22 s.t. 23 s.t. 24 s.t. 25 s.t. 26 s.t. 27 + 6' 36" 28 s.t. 29 s.t. 30 s.t. 31 s.t. 32 s.t. 33 + 7' 07" 34 s.t 35 + 7' 38" 36 + 9' 35" 37 + 9' 37" 38 + 10' 02" 39 s.t. 40 s.t. 41 s.t. 42 + 10' 06" 43 s.t. 44 + 10' 40" 45 s.t. 46 s.t. 47 + 11' 32" 48 s.t. 49 + 11' 34" 50 + 11' 51" 51 + 12' 07" 52 s.t. 53 + 17' 45" Over time limit – – Did not finish – – – – – – – – – – – – Disqualified –

References