Van Moorsel-Zijlaard falls short of Longo’s hour record
Dutch triple Olympic gold medalist Leontien Van Moorsel-Zijlaard on Wednesday failed in her attempt to beat Jeannie Longo's world hour record in Manchester, England. The 31-year-old Dutchwoman covered 43.47591km, 1619m less than the veteran Longo managed in Mexico on December 7 last year when she covered 45.095km. Van Moorsel-Zijlaard set off at a cracking pace, covering the first 5km in a healthy 6:33.252 but she then gradually lost steam and was already losing ground by the time she hit the 10km mark. By 15km she was more than 20 seconds adrift and the gap had increased to a minute
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By VeloNews Interactive wire services, Copyright 2001 AFP
Dutch triple Olympic gold medalist Leontien Van Moorsel-Zijlaard on Wednesday failed in her attempt to beat Jeannie Longo’s world hour record in Manchester, England.
The 31-year-old Dutchwoman covered 43.47591km, 1619m less than the veteran Longo managed in Mexico on December 7 last year when she covered 45.095km.
Van Moorsel-Zijlaard set off at a cracking pace, covering the first 5km in a healthy 6:33.252 but she then gradually lost steam and was already losing ground by the time she hit the 10km mark.
By 15km she was more than 20 seconds adrift and the gap had increased to a minute after she had covered 25km.
At 35km that had grown to 1:30, but she refused to give up, egged on by husband and coach Michael Zijlaard.
Van Moorsel-Zijlaard insisted even before she got into the saddle that if she missed out she would have another go, possibly in Mexico City.