Linda Villumsen

Villumsen (left) finished second in time trial at the 2013 World Championships. (Ellen van Dijk (center), Carmen Small (right)) Linda Melanie Villumsen Serup (born 9 April 1985) is a Danish-born road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Women's Team . Villumsen became a New Zealand citizen in 2009 and has ridden under a Kiwi licence from 2010.

Career Born in Herning, Villumsen won the European under 23 time trial championship in 2006 and 2007.

She was Danish national champion in both road racing and time trialing in 2006, 2008 and 2009. In 2006, Cycling World named her their Cyclist of the Year.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she finished 5th in the women's road race and 13th in the time trial.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London she finished 18th in the road race and fourth in the time trial, missing out on a medal by less than two seconds.

Villumsen won the Route de France Féminine in 2006 and 2013 and was one of only two riders to win the race twice.

From 2008 to 2015 she placed 10th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 9th and 1st in world championships time trials.

From 2012 to 2014 she placed 7th, 6th and 8th in world championships road races.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games she won the gold medal in the road time trial and placed 5th in the road race.

In September 2014 the team announced that they had signed Villumsen for the 2015 season after two seasons with . Afterwards, her trade team, , almost dropped her for riding her team issue New Zealand frame instead of her normal Wilier Cento Time Trial bike. The NZ team's bike, with its altered geometry, meant she could get much lower.

Villumsen is the only New Zealand senior cyclist to win an individual medal at the UCI Road World Championships.

Major results

2005 1st Alblasserdam Danish National Road Championships 2nd Road race 3rd Time trial 2nd Overall Damesronde van Drenthe 2nd New Zealand World Cup

2006

Danish National Road Championships

1st Omloop der Kempen 1st Mountains classification Damesronde van Drenthe 2nd Overall Ster Zeeuwsche Eilanden 1st Stage 1 (ITT) 2nd L'Heure d'Or Féminine 3rd Individual pursuit, Danish National Track Championships 9th Overall Holland Ladies Tour

2007

1st Stage 6 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin 3rd Overall Holland Ladies Tour 5th Overall Emakumeen Bira 10th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile

2008 Danish National Road Championships

1st Stage 1 (TTT) Giro della Toscana Int. Femminile – Memorial Michela Fanini 2nd Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT 5th Road race, Olympic Games 8th Overall Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira 9th Overall Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin 10th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

2009 Danish National Road Championships

1st Stage 3 1st Trofeo Costa Etrusca – GP Comuni Santa Luce – Castellina Marittima 2nd Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT

3rd Overall Ster Zeeuwsche Eilanden 1st Stage 1 (ITT) 7th Overall Holland Ladies Tour 8th Overall Gracia–Orlová 8th Tour de Berne 10th Overall Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin 1st Prologue

2010

New Zealand National Road Championships 2nd Road race 3rd Time trial 2nd Chrono Gatineau 2nd Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT

5th Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau 6th Overall Women's Tour of New Zealand

2011

2nd Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT 4th Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen 9th GP Ciudad de Valladolid

2012

1st Stage 2b (ITT) 1st Stage 3 (ITT) Emakumeen Euskal Bira UCI Road World Championships

7th Road race 2nd Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT 3rd La Flèche Wallonne Féminine 3rd GP Stad Roeselare 4th Time trial, Olympic Games 5th Overall Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs 7th Overall Women's Tour of New Zealand 1st Stage 5 8th Overall Holland Ladies Tour 10th Open de Suède Vårgårda

2013

1st Stage 7 UCI Road World Championships

6th Road race 5th Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen

8th Overall Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche

1st Prologue

2014 Commonwealth Games

5th Road race

1st Stage 2 (ITT) New Zealand National Road Championships 2nd Time trial 2nd Road race 8th La Flèche Wallonne Féminine UCI Road World Championships 8th Road race 9th Time trial

2015

New Zealand National Road Championships

2nd Time trial 5th Overall Tour of the Gila 7th Overall Joe Martin Stage Race

2016 1st Le Race 2nd Overall Joe Martin Stage Race 1st Prologue 5th Overall Tour of the Gila 6th Time trial, Olympic Games

2017 5th Overall Holland Ladies Tour 6th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

2018 2nd Time trial, Commonwealth Games 10th Overall Women's Herald Sun Tour