Christelle Daunay of France broke away from Italian Valeria Straneo in the final stages of the marathon on Saturday to win the European Championships title.
Jessica Augusto of Portugal, who had been in lone pursuit of the pair for much of the race, took bronze.
At age 39, Daunay won the biggest title in her career in championship record time of two hours, 25 minutes, 14 seconds on a tough course hugging Zurich lake with four steep climbs.
Straneo finished 13 seconds behind for back-to-back silver medals after she took second place at the 2013 world championships.
Daunay's gold has underscored what a great championship France is having. In five days of competition, they already have six golds and 15 medals overall.
However, Daunay's gold was long in the balance. The French veteran was with Straneo from the start and the two quickly whittled down the pack on a hilly and wet track in and around Zurich's old town. Just past halfway, it was only the two of them fighting for gold.
Straneo sought to throw off Daunay on the climbs but it was on the last big descent that the Frenchwoman forced the decisive breakthrough. Kicking for home along the lake, Daunay even had time to pick up a French flag to wave it at the big crowd lining the final straight.
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