The USA's Kristen Faulkner was not on anyone's radar for the Olympic Games one month before she claimed the country's first gold medal in the road race in 40 years. In fact at the start of July she wasn't even expected to start the road race – her focus was only on the Team Pursuit event which starts on Tuesday.
However, the 31-year-old from Alaska made it into the road event in a roundabout way, then beat two of the best female cyclists of all time - Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) - with a searing attack at almost exactly a 4km Team Pursuit distance from the line.
Faulkner could hardly believe she won when she crossed the line opposite the Eiffel Tower, so much so she didn't react with any sort of victory salute until after she had passed the press photographer's pen.
"I knew I'd won but to be honest, emotionally, it was a bit surreal for me. I think, even though I came here with the confidence that I could earn a medal when I crossed the line, I didn't fully take it in – it was just pretty overwhelming for me."
Faulkner's journey to the top step of the Olympic road race podium was short and long at the same time. A former rower, she was working in finance after graduating from Harvard. She had only started riding a bike in 2017 and just over three years ago she left a solid job in New York City to commit to a pro cycling career in 2021.
Her rise through the ranks has been nothing short of meteoric, but the Olympics on the road weren't the pinnacle she was aiming for. Faulkner missed automatically qualifying for the United States road team by coming second to triathlete Taylor Knibb by just 11 seconds at the individual time trial national championships in May. As a result she returned her focus to the Team Pursuit, which she had been training toward for over a year.
Her road race ambitions suddenly became a reality when, on July 9, USA Cycling announced that Knibb declined her position on the team for the road event since she lacked bunch racing experience, and suddenly Faulkner was in the road race alongside Chloé Dygert.
Yet even during the race, she said, she considered dropping out to save herself for the track.
"Because I had Team Pursuit in two days, I actually almost didn't race the road race. The reason is that I think we have a really strong team for the Team Pursuit. I think we're medal capable. And so I really had to ask myself, 'am I medal capable in the road race as well?' Because ultimately, USA Cycling wants us to wear medals, and that's why we're here," she said.
"We are medal capable in the Team Pursuit, and it was a big risk for me to do the road race, because I may or may not be more fatigued having done the road race before the Team Pursuit. So I had to really sit down with my coaches. I had to assess, could I really win a medal in the road race?"
It was just the kind of careful analysis and risk assessment that she trained for in her previous life in venture capital, and the risk most definitely paid off.
The decision for Faulkner to compete in the road race was not the result of a sudden change of heart by Knibb, she revealed in the post-race press conference.
"The last few months and the last week in particular, were a lot of discussions with me and USA Cycling and with my coaches to figure out how I could perform today and how to maximise my recovery for team pursuit if I do it.
"I actually did a lot of race simulations as part of my training, followed by an easy day, followed by a track day. Through those race simulations, I found that I recovered quite well and that I could show up to the track and be quite ready for the race.
"I made an agreement with my track coaches that I would only do the road race if I felt that I was medal capable, and if at any point I got dropped from the front group and I was no longer in contention for a medal, I would pull out of the race and recover for the Team Pursuit."
Luckily for Faulkner and USA Cycling, she had both sparkling form and racing intelligence way beyond her years in the sport. Not only did she deftly avoid the crash from teammate Dygert with 48km to go, she slotted easily into the lead group while race favourites like Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) had to burn matches chasing.
When Vos got away with Hungary's Blanka Vas with just over 20km to go, Faulkner was still in medal contention in the chasing group but appeared to wait to commit fully until the closing kilometres, and stayed focussed on Kopecky.
"I felt quite strong throughout the day, and after the first time up the cobbled climb, I said, I'm feeling the best I felt a really long time. So I'm going to go for it and just continue with the race and to earn a medal."
Then, in the scintillating chase with Kopecky, Faulkner made sure her Belgian companion continued to work to close the gap to Vos and Vas, which they did with 4km to go. She attacked almost immediately, knowing she would not medal in a sprint against those three riders.
Now, Faulkner will join Dygert, Lily Williams, Olivia Cummins and Tokyo Omnium gold medalist Jen Valente at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome and turn her focus on getting medals for the lot of them.
"I still feel we can earn another medal in Team Pursuit, because we have a really strong team. And, yeah, I want to walk away with two medals."
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