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.
