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Faulkner, together with Lotte Kopecky, had bridged across to Kata Blanka Vas and Marianne Vos after the final ascent of the Butte Montmartre, before kicking on past them after the River Seine.
The attack seemed to take the trio by surprise as the 157.6-kilometre course reached its conclusion, with Faulkner taking gold for the United States followed by Vos (Netherlands) in second place, Kopecky (Belgium) in third, and Vas (Hungary) in fourth.
“I feel like it’s a dream come true,” Faulkner said after the race. “I took a really big risk a few years ago to come to pursue my dream and I made it happen.
“It’s the best feeling in the world, I don’t know how to describe it.”
“I knew that it would be a really tough race but I was racing to win,” she added. “That was a promise I made to my Team Pursuit teammates.
“I had high hopes. I’m racing Team Pursuit in two days and so I said I’d only do the road race if I felt strong and felt I had a chance of a medal.”
Australia had three riders take part in the event, Lauretta Hanson finishing in 22nd place ahead of time trial gold medallist Grace Brown in 23rd, and Ruby Roseman-Gannon in 39th position.
The trio lost ground during the first of the three ascents of the Butte Montmartre, with Brown citing a lack of legs needed to keep pace with the breakaway.
“When we entered Montmartre for the first time, I was up there on the wheels that went ahead, but just didn’t have the legs to follow the attack,” Brown said, per AusCycling.
“You have to race with the legs you’ve got and my training was really focused on the time trial, which was quite specific, so there were a few things missing to be up there today.”
Hanson, meanwhile, was happy with her efforts in what was her first experience of an Olympic road race.
“We went out there and gave it our best,” Hanson added. “We tried and that’s all you can ask for.”
