Yes, that was a shame, she put in two big attacks and it looked like the 2nd would succeed. It would have been nice to see her win, she's had too low a profile this year.
I was looking at Bronzini's palmares, and she's quite a sprinter.
I was just impressed that she gave it a go. It's a lottery in that sort of finish:
- had she gone earlier, the kraut might have tucked in then come past, or
- if she'd sprinted EXACTLY as Vos etc came through, she still had to outsprint 2 top-level sprinters, with the fatigue from a long attack in her legs.
fantastic entertainment, anyway.
Pushing the sour grapes aside [cos I don't think this changed the outcome of the race]; the squad-size rules aren't entirely fair, are they? In the TT (or any other sport without drafting), fair enough, a strong nation gets more entries. But in a bunch race, it totally skews the outcome. Still, I guess it's been that way a long time ...