The women's individual road race event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July 2021 on a course starting at Musashinonomori Park in Tokyo and ending at the Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture.

She proceeded to drop her breakaway companions, all of whom were swallowed up by the peloton, soloing off the front at the Kagosaka Pass with 41 kilometres (25 mi) to go and holding off the late chase from the pack.

[3] The bronze medal went to Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy, after unsuccessfully attempting to bridge up to van Vleuten's attack and holding off the peloton.

Approaching the line, the peloton appeared unaware that the unheralded Kiesenhofer had been one of the escapees, had stayed off the front and finished the race substantially ahead of them.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to four qualified cyclists in the women's individual road race.

The women's race started at Musashinonomori Park in Chōfu, western Tokyo, at 13:00 Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) and finished at the Fuji Speedway circuit in the Shizuoka prefecture.

After reaching Lake Yamanakako in Yamanashi and crossing the Kagosaka Pass, the riders faced a 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) descent and from here, the courses were different for the men's and women's races.

She was soon joined by Carla Oberholzer (South Africa), Vera Looser (Namibia), Omer Shapira (Israel), and Anna Plichta (Poland).

Van Vleuten managed to increase her lead to a minute over the peloton while up front, on the Kagosaka Pass, Kiesenhofer dropped Shapira and Plichta, going solo with 41 kilometres (25 mi) still left to race.

Kiesenhofer maintained her five-minute advantage over van Vleuten on the descent from the Kagosaka Pass while the peloton was a further minute in arrears.

At this point, Netherlands began to set a faster pace, bringing back Labous and closing in on Shapira and Plichta.