| | Event type

Road Race, Individual, Women

Date	10 August 2008 — 14:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Gonglu Zixingche Saichang, Juyongguan
Participants	66 from 33 countries
Format	126 km. mass start race.

The women’s road race was held over 126.4 km. and was the first women’s cycling event of the Beijing Olympics. Although many riders had trained for hot, humid conditions, the race was held in terrible weather, as rain began to fall shortly after the start, and much of the race was held in a downpour with strong winds. Several crashes occurred on the slick course, and several of these were blamed on poor marking of the course which confused the riders. On the final lap, a five-rider break went off the front, led by Italy’s Tatiana Guderzo, with only one favorite in the group – Nicole Cooke of Great Britain. Guderzo had placed second at the 2004 World Championships road race, but Cooke was considered much stronger, having been on the podium at the Worlds in both 2005 and 2006. Coming to the finish up the Badaling section of the Great Wall climb, Cooke and Guderzo were joined by Sweden’s Emma Johansson, as they dropped Christiane Soeder (AUT) and Linda Serup (DEN). Over the top of the climb, Cooke took the lead and held on to win by a bike length. One rider who was not present was Italy’s Maria Bastianelli, the 2007 World Champion, who had tested positive for flenfluramine in July and was not eligible.

Pos	Bib	Competitor	NOC	Time	Margin
1	–	Nicole Cooke	GBR	3-32:24	–	Gold
2	–	Emma Johansson	SWE	3-32:24	same time	Silver
3	–	Tania Guderzo	ITA	3-32:24	same time	Bronze
4	–	Christiane Soeder	AUT	3-32:28	at 0:04
5	–	Linda Villumsen	DEN	3-32:33	at 0:09
6	–	Marianne Vos	NED	3-32:45	at 0:21
7	–	Priska Doppmann	SUI	3-32:45	at 0:21
8	–	Paulina Brzeźna	POL	3-32:45	at 0:21
9	–	Edita Pučinskaitė	LTU	3-32:45	at 0:21
10	–	Zulfiya Zabirova	KAZ	3-32:45	at 0:21
11	–	Jolanta Polikevičiūtė	LTU	3-32:45	at 0:21
12	–	Yuliya Martisova	RUS	3-32:45	at 0:21
13	–	Christel Ferrier Bruneau	FRA	3-32:45	at 0:21
14	–	Maryline Salvetat	FRA	3-32:45	at 0:21
15	–	Noemi Cantele	ITA	3-32:45	at 0:21
16	–	Gao Min	CHN	3-32:52	at 0:28
17	–	Leigh Hobson	CAN	3-32:52	at 0:28
18	–	Nicole Brändli-Sedoun	SUI	3-32:52	at 0:28
19	–	Anna Sanchís	ESP	3-32:52	at 0:28
20	–	Trixi Worrack	GER	3-32:52	at 0:28
21	–	Susanne Ljungskog	SWE	3-32:52	at 0:28
22	–	Yevheniya Vysotska	UKR	3-32:55	at 0:31
23	–	Emma Pooley	GBR	3-32:55	at 0:31
24	–	Jeannie Longo	FRA	3-32:57	at 0:33
25	–	Kristin Armstrong	USA	3-33:07	at 0:43
26	–	Anita Valen	NOR	3-33:17	at 0:53
27	–	Modesta Vžesniauskaitė	LTU	3-33:17	at 0:53
28	–	Joanne Kiesanowski	NZL	3-33:17	at 0:53
29	–	Oenone Wood	AUS	3-33:17	at 0:53
30	–	Grete Treier	EST	3-33:17	at 0:53
31	–	Miho Oki	JPN	3-33:17	at 0:53
32	–	Tetiana Stiazhkina	UKR	3-33:17	at 0:53
33	–	Amber Neben	USA	3-33:17	at 0:53
34	–	Marissa van der Merwe	RSA	3-33:17	at 0:53
35	–	Sharon Laws	GBR	3-33:17	at 0:53
36	–	Mirjam Melchers-van Poppel	NED	3-33:17	at 0:53
37	–	Erinne Willock	CAN	3-33:23	at 0:59
38	–	Sara Carrigan	AUS	3-33:25	at 1:01
39	–	Hanka Kupfernagel	GER	3-33:25	at 1:01
40	–	Nataliya Boyarskaya	RUS	3-33:45	at 1:21
41	–	Judith Arndt	GER	3-33:51	at 1:27
42	–	Oksana Kashchyshyna	UKR	3-34:13	at 1:49
43	–	Aleksandra Burchenkova	RUS	3-36:32	at 4:08
44	–	Lieselot Decroix	BEL	3-36:35	at 4:11
45	–	Alessandra Grassi	MEX	3-36:35	at 4:11
46	–	Monika Schachl	AUT	3-36:37	at 4:13
47	–	Chantal Beltman	NED	3-37:02	at 4:38
48	–	Meng Lang	CHN	3-37:42	at 5:18
49	–	Sigrid Corneo	SLO	3-39:29	at 7:05
50	–	Alex Wrubleski	CAN	3-39:36	at 7:12
51	–	Clemilda Fernandes	BRA	3-41:01	at 8:37
52	–	Christine Thorburn	USA	3-41:08	at 8:44
53	–	Cath Cheatley	NZL	3-41:08	at 8:44
54	–	Danielys García	VEN	3-43:25	at 11:01
55	–	Marta Vilajosana	ESP	3-43:25	at 11:01
56	–	Sara Mustonen	SWE	3-43:25	at 11:01
57	–	Angie González	VEN	3-43:25	at 11:01
58	–	Gu Seong-Eun	KOR	3-45:59	at 13:35
59	–	Cherise Taylor	RSA	3-48:33	at 16:09
60	–	Yumari González	CUB	3-51:39	at 19:15
61	–	Chanpeng Nontasin	THA	3-51:51	at 19:27
62	–	Aurélie Halbwachs	MRI	3-52:11	at 19:47
DNF	–	Son Hui-Jeong	KOR	–	–
DNF	–	Vera Carrara	ITA	–	–
DNF	–	Kate Bates	AUS	–	–
DNF	–	Jennifer Hohl	SUI	–	–