Rissveds wins Sweden's first cycling gold for 40 years

By Martyn Herman RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Jenny Rissveds claimed Sweden's first Olympic cycling gold for 40 years with a superb victory in the women's cross-country on Saturday, producing a devastating last lap to break her rivals. The 29-strong field had already been whittled down to a battle between the 22-year-old and Poland's experienced Maja Wloszczowska as the bell rang for the last of six laps around the rolling 4.8-km course straddling Rio's inland hills. Rissveds rapidly distanced herself from Wloszczowska with a final lap of 14 minutes 25 seconds, the fastest of the six she completed. She was cool and composed over the testing obstacles on the spectacular course, namely some wheel-jarring rocky sections on the final descent following a one-km climb, and beat Wloszczowska by 37 seconds. Canada's Catharine Pendrel, who had been tipped to become the first non-European to win an Olympic cross-country gold after a fine season, made a poor start but claimed bronze. Rissveds sported a large plaster on her knee -- the legacy of a crash in training she thought might rule her out. "I had six stitches in my knee and four in my elbow and I thought this is not going to work at all," the youngest ever mountain bike Olympic champion told reporters. "But the day after that I went out on the course and I felt so good. I was a little bit scared after that though. "At the start line I just thought, stay cool and race my bike. This is for sure the biggest achievement in my career." In claiming Sweden's second gold medal of the Games after swimmer Sarah Sjostrom's 100m butterfly win she matched the 1976 achievement of Bernt Johansson who won the road race in Montreal. Switzerland's Linda Indergand made the early pace, building up a 15-second lead over a course with virtually no flat sections and featuring a mock-up favela. Indergand was caught after two laps by a group containing Rissveds, Wloszczowska, fellow Swiss Jolanda Neff and Czech Katerina Nash and quickly fell back. Favourite Neff looked to attack but could not shake off Rissveds and Wloszczowska -- the effort taking its toll as she began to struggle on the fourth lap. Wloszczowska hung on grimly but could not live with Rissveds in the final reckoning. "I was still hoping for the victory but Jenny was super strong," said the Pole who also took silver in Beijing but missed London 2012 after breaking her leg. For Pendrel it was a case of what might have been. She crashed early on and was down in 25th position at one stage before carving through the field for a medal. "I had a crash then the (gear) selector wasn't working, I thought nothing's going right here," she said. "I just kept fighting through, and it paid off." Germany's 44-year-old Sabine Spitz, the most successful female mountain-biking Olympian with a gold, silver and bronze in her collection, was just happy to compete after a cut became badly infected in the days before the race. "I was racing here against doctors' recommendations but I did not want to miss the Olympics," said the world number two, who finished 19th. (Editing by Clare Fallon)