No raining on Armitstead's party

By Steve Keating RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - It was overcast and rainy for the women's road cycling world championships race on Saturday, the perfect day for Britain's Lizzie Armitstead to claim a coveted rainbow jersey. Using her patience and a furious sprint finish, Armitstead shot through the drizzle to beat Dutchwoman Anna van der Breggen to the line and add the jersey to a growing collection that includes a 2012 Olympic silver medal and Commonwealth Games gold. All three of those brightest moments of Armitstead's career were won in gloomy and rainy conditions. "Every cyclist dreams of the rainbow jersey," Armitstead told reporters. "It just went so perfectly. "I prepared the best I could. Physically I was in the best shape of my career and then you have to have lady luck on your side and she was with me today. Even rain, it was perfect." With back-to-back overall World Cup titles on her resume, Armitstead arrived in Richmond with some unfinished business after a disappointing seventh place at last year's worlds. Her hopes of making up for last year's disappointment appeared doomed when she failed to join a nine-rider break that had opened up a minute advantage on the peloton with under 20km to go. LEADING PACK CAUGHT But on the final climb up the Libby Hill cobblestones, the leading pack was caught and then the bunch chased down Australian Lauren Kitchen and Italy's Valentina Scandolara, who had tried to attack on their own. With the race now set up for a sprint finish, a cool Armitstead held her nerve as she powered to a half-bike length victory over van der Breggen. In Ponferrada, Spain, last year the tables were turned with Armitstead in the lead pack when she was overtaken just four kilometers from the finish. "With about a lap to go, I put in a little dig over one of the cobble climbs and I thought this could be over if we don't bridge across," said Armitstead. "I was hoping at that point someone would come across with me to the breakaway. I wasn't prepared to chase on my own. "So it was a case of being willing to lose the race in order to win it. I knew that from last year I had to be patient, I had to gamble." While Armitstead likes to race in the rain, she was not in any mood to let anyone rain on her party. Missing from the championships was injured Dutch great Marianne Vos. Asked if the absence of Vos -- who reached the podium in every world championship between 2006 and 2013 with wins in 2006, 2012 and 2013 -- had taken something away from the victory, Armitstead made her feelings clear. "No disrespect to Marianne Vos, she is the greatest cyclist of our time but maybe the media needs to catch up a little bit and ask me about other rivals," glared Armitstead. "Maybe some research needs to be done on my other rivals. Marianne Vos is an incredible champion but there is more than just Marianne to beat." (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)