Annemiek van Vleuten: "No idea why I did not had the power I have normally in a TT"

Annemiek van Vleuten has had an incredibly successful season, however today at the World Championships she faced a bad day, and was distant from the medals at the individual time-trial.

“I was eager today and I believed in it. With a good day I could have become world champion, but I had a lesser day. I had left fairly quickly. I thought I was doing well, but then it turned out that I was already way behind," van Vleuten shared after completing her effort. "I could see from my wattages that I was performing moderately. That says I definitely didn't have a good day today. I don't know what it is."

Alongside her compatriot Ellen van Dijk the duo were among the main favourites together with Marlen Reusser. Whilst van Dijk went on to the win, van Vleuten went down the standings, finishing a decent but modest seventh place at the finish, 1:43 minutes down on the winner.

“In Yorkshire [World Championships 2019] I came third, also a long way from the first. I still became world champion in the road race. I'm sure I'm fine. It just didn't work out today," she said however, keeping a positive mentality.

In a Twitter message following the race she shared her disappointment, writing that she had "no idea why I did not had the power I have normally in a TT" and that it was "by far not my best day on the bike".

“I was good in the Vuelta and you don't lose that good form in one week. We have a good team for the road race course. I'm really confident. We can take control of the course and keep it," the veteran concluded, preferring to already focus on the road race where she will once again be one of the main favourites.