Six months after her horrifying Olympics crash, Annamiek van Vleuten has shown she has a big season ahead with an outstanding win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Rd race.
The Dutch cycling star sprinted clear of four other lead riders to take out the women's race in Geelong on Saturday.
The Orica-Scott rider was leading the Rio Olympics road race by herself in the last 10km last August when she crashed on a descent.
She lay motionless for several minutes and onlookers initially feared the worst.
Van Vleuten suffered back injuries and severe concussion, but she soon returned to racing and has not missed a beat.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Far from wanting to consign Rio to history, van Vleuten is using the race as motivation.
"I don't want it to disappear, because it was one of the best races of my life and I don't want to ever forget about it - only the ending, maybe," she said.
"It's graphic, awful, but also it was a big race.
"This shows that I've really inspired myself, with riding so well in Rio, and I'm really motivated for 2017."
While her win capped Orica-Scott's dream month, it also was a big relief for the powerful Australian team.
Their two main riders for Saturday's race, defending champion Amanda Spratt and national champion Katrin Garfood, had below-par days.
So after riding as a domestique early in the 113km race, van Vleuten suddenly had to switch to their main option.
She still had the strength to sprint clear in the last few hundred metres.
"When I noticed on the climbs they (Spratt and Garfoot) were not there anymore, and it was only me, I'd already done some work," van Vleuten said.
"Then I felt some pressure - oohh, it might be hard to finish this race off.
"I tried to forget about all the work already, we have to finish this off."
The race splintered inside the last 20km, with British rider Emma Pooley (Holden Racing) then attacking by herself on a climb with 10km left.
Van Vleuten, Ruth Winder (USA, United Health Care), Mayuko Hagiwara (Japan, Wiggle High5) and Australian Lucy Kennedy (High5) bridged across to Pooley with 2.5km left.
Pooley was pleased she made the right move, but was frustrated it did not work out.
Cruelly, she was denied a podium finish, taking fifth.
Winder was second and Hagiwara finished third.
"I got away at the right point, but I couldn't hang onto it," she said.
"With four chasing, it is obviously going to be hard to stay away - you need a bit of luck in a road race to win.
"The luck I needed today was that they wouldn't work together and for some reason they did - that happens.
"I feel like Orica-Scott is strong enough, they don't need someone else from a different team to chase for them."
