Lizzie Armitstead is cursing her bad luck after finishing seventh in the elite women’s road race at the World Championships in Copenhagen.
The Otley ace had been lined up by her Great Britain colleagues for a sprint towards a podium finish when she was badly hampered by a crash in front of her.
“I felt so good all day but that’s cycling I guess,” said Armitstead.
“A girl came down in front of me after the girls had set me up perfectly. It’s such a stupid way to lose it.”
Team-mate Nicole Cooke came fourth, as she did in 2010, and Lucy Martin was 47th, Katie Colclough 65th, Enmma Pooley 69th, Sharon Laws 81st and Catherine Williamson 82nd.
Italy’s Giorgia Bronzini retained her world title in a bunch sprint from Marianne Vos, of the Netherlands, and Germany’s Ina Teutenberg.
However, Mark Cavendish, after a performance that was both courageous and dominant, won the elite men’s road race to become the first British champion since Tommy Simpson in 1965.
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