Australian Amanda Spratt has grabbed second place in the women's world cycling titles road race after Dutchwoman Anna van der Breggen pulled away for a majestic 40km solo ride to victory.
When the highly-favoured Dutch team had no one left in the leading group for the final 50km of the road race on Saturday, the Olympic champion stepped up to the challenge.
Amanda Spratt took silver.
Van der Breggen jumped out of the peloton and quickly overtook the five riders in front.
Spratt briefly followed, but the Australian rider had to let go when the Dutchwoman accelerated on a steep climb of the 156km race from Kufstein to Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps.
Van der Breggen continued the last 40km on an unmatched pace to land her first world title, winning by the largest margin in nearly three decades.
"I didn't know the time. I didn't know anything. So I kept going until the finish line. Only on the finish line I believed it was possible. It's amazing," she said. "I was a bit doubting if it was too early or not. But I took this opportunity and I had to go."
Van der Breggen led Spratt by three minutes and 42 seconds, the biggest winning margin in the event since French standout Jeannie Longo won the 1989 title by more than four minutes.
Italian rider Tatiana Guderzo, the 2009 world champion, was five minutes and 26 seconds behind and took bronze.
Van der Breggen became the fifth female rider to combine the Olympic and world titles in the road race, after Longo, Britain's Nicole Cooke and fellow Dutch riders Leontien van Moorsel and Marianne Vos completed the feat.
Van der Breggen's win came four days after Dutch teammate Annemiek van Vleuten beat her to the time trial title. The Netherlands also won both women's titles at the worlds in Bergen, Norway, last year, with Chantal Blaak and Van Vleuten taking the gold medals.
AP
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