INDIANAPOLIS — Chloé Dygert continues to make American cycling history.
The 27-year-old from Brownsburg unexpectedly won a silver medal – one bike length from gold – in the road race Saturday in the World Championships at rainy Zurich.
Lotte Kopecky of Belgium repeated as world champion in a sprint finish involving six cyclists.
Kopecky, 28, won after more than four hours over a 95-mile course (154 kilometers). She became the first woman to repeat as world champion since Marianne Vos of the Netherlands in 2012 and 2013.
Dygert had the same time as Kopecky — 4:05:26 — after lurking at the back of the lead group over the closing miles. Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini won the bronze.
Dygert, more accomplished at shorter distances, became the first American man or woman to win a world medal in the road race since 2015 (Megan Guarnier, bronze).
The Hoosier had the best finish by an American woman since 1991 (Inga Thompson, silver). Dygert won a world bronze medal Sept. 22 in the individual time trial.
Kopecky earned bronze in the Olympic road race won by Kristen Faulkner of the United States on Aug. 4 in Paris. Dygert was 15th at the Olympics.
Faulkner finished 35th on Saturday.
Dygert won two medals at Paris, gold in team pursuit and bronze in the time trial despite a fall along the course. She has a total of 14 world medals (12 of them gold) and four Olympic medals.
She has had a series of surgeries since her crash in the 2020 World Championships at Imola, Italy, where a metal barrier sliced through her thigh and could have ended her career. Last autumn, she had another surgery on her left quadriceps to remove scar tissue. Preparation for the Olympics was impaired by an Achilles injury, crashes in spring classics in Belgium, and a bout of COVID-19.
Dygert has signed a new contract with Canyon until 2026.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
