Briton Armitstead retains UCI Women's World Cup crown as race for title goes to the wire

Britain's Lizzie Armitstead today retained her International Cycling Union (UCI) Women's World Cup crown in dramatic fashion, securing the overall victory by winning the GP Plouay in Belgium as the race for the title went down to the last few metres of the season.

The 26-year-old Boels-Dolmans rider came out on top in the final sprint at the end of the 121 kilometres race to seal her second consecutive World Cup series victory.

Armitstead had started the day in third place behind Belgium's Jolien d’Hoore, who rides for Wiggle-Honda, and Anna van der Breggen, the Dutchwoman who represents Rabo-Liv.

D'Hoore was not on the start-line in Plouay because she is preparing for next month's World Road Race Championships in Richmond but Armitstead still trailed van der Breggen by 21 points, meaning she could not be sure a victory would guarantee her the title.

In the end, van Breggen could finish only sixth, handing Armitstead the overall title at the end of the nine-race series for the second consecutive year by six points.

She held off Sweden's Emma Johnsson, from Orica-AIS, and France's world champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot, van der Breggen's team-mate, in a sprint finish.

It was a gutsy effort from the Briton who had launched an attack in the final kilometres of the race, only to see her competitors, led by van der Breggen, come back into her wheel.

In the sprint she still proved to be the fastest of the front group, however, as it was van der Breggen who faded and saw the title slip agonisingly away.

Image title — Lizzie Armitstead celebrated retaining her UCI Women's World Cup title with her Boels-Dolmans team-mates ©Twitter

“I am very happy with this result,” Armitstead, the winner of Britain's first Olympic medal at London 2012 when she claimed silver in the road race on day two, said.

“I was always on the front, but I have to thank the team they did a tremendous job.”

Boels-Dolmans' manager Danny Stam was a satisfied man after the race.

"It could not have worked out any better,” he said.

“We aimed for the victory in this race with Lizzie, because she is riding very well at the moment.

“It turned out that was the right tactic."

Some consolation for Rabo-Liv was that they won the best team prize for 2015 and its Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma won the overall best young rider classification.

Next year the World Cup is due to be replaced by a new Women's World Tour, including stage races, and will be expanded from 10 to approximately 30 race days.