Lizzie Armitstead has been nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year award
Friday 6 November 2015 12:02, UK
In September, cyclist Lizzie Armitstead won gold in the women’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia.
The 26-year-old from Yorkshire won the 130km race in a sprint finish from Holland's Anna van der Breggen.
A month earlier, Armitstead retained the UCI Women Road World Cup in the final round at the GP de Plouay-Bretagne. She held off Emma Johnsson and then world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot in a sprint finish to end the series six points clear of runner-up Van der Breggen.
The Olympic silver medallist had won the title for the first time last year with one race to spare.
In June, Armitstead suffered a high-profile accident during the Women's Tour. In the seconds after winning the opening stage in Suffolk, Armitstead celebrated by raising her arms aloft as she crossed the line. But she soon lost control of her bike and then collided with a group of photographers and the race director, Mick Bennett.
She said: "Nothing broken, just very sore. I remember winning with the help of my team-mates - and then not much else."
Armitstead was conscious throughout and immediately treated by paramedics. There is no suggestion the photographers were in the wrong position. She was taken to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital but was later discharged with only bruising.
Armitstead withdrew from the Tour, the UK's biggest race for female cyclists. Ten days later she had recovered sufficiently to win the national road race title for a third occasion.
Elsewhere this year, she enjoyed victory in the Tour of Qatar.
Watch the Sportswomen of the Year Awards on Sky Sports 1 and Sky 1 from 9.30pm on Friday November 6.
