Lizzie Armitstead seals victory in 2014 UCI Women’s World Cup with a race to spare
Sunday 24 August 2014 18:40, UK
Lizzie Armitstead has sealed victory in the 2014 UCI Women’s Road World Cup with a race to spare.
The 25-year-old Briton secured the title by finishing eighth in the penultimate event of the nine-race series, the Open de Suede Vargarda, two places ahead of her nearest challenger in the overall standings, Sweden's Emma Johansson.
Armitstead now has a 140-point lead with only 120 available at next Saturday's final race, the GP de Plouay in France.
She has led the World Cup from start to finish, having won the opening event, the Ronde van Drenthe, in March.
“I am relieved and happy,” Armitstead said. "I didn’t expect to win the overall World Cup today."
Following her win at the Ronde van Drenthe, Armitstead finished second in all of the next three races to tighten her grip on the leader’s jersey, but was forced to miss the sixth event due to the fact it clashed with the Commonwealth Games road race, which she won.
She returned to the podium in the seventh event, the Open de Suede Vargarda team time trial on Friday, when her Boels-Dolmans team finished third.
