Image 1 of 50 Pure ecstasy for Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and the Dutch fans as she adds a world championship to her remarkable 2012 season. (Image credit: AFP) Image 2 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) dropped her four breakaway companions on the final trip up the Cauberg and will shortly win the world championship. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 3 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands), the heavy pre-race favourite, earned a second road race world championship to her palmares. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 4 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) powers up the Cauberg alone en route to a second career road race world title. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 5 of 50 Rossella Ratto (Italy) on the attack (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 6 of 50 2012 women's road Worlds podium (L-R): Rachel Neylan (Australia), Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 7 of 50 Plenty of excited fans to congratulate Marianne Vos after her world championship. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 8 of 50 2012 road Worlds bronze medalist Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 9 of 50 Marianne Vos solos to her second road Worlds title to raucous applause in Valkenburg. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 10 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) has added a second road Worlds gold medal to her collection. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 11 of 50 2012 road world champion Marianne Vos (Netherlands) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 12 of 50 Your 2012 road race world champion - Marianne Vos (Netherlands) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 13 of 50 A huge crash occurred in the latter part of the second lap in the women's road Worlds. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 14 of 50 A large crash blocked the road on the second lap of the women's road race world championship. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 15 of 50 Marianne Vos would emerge from this final five-rider selection to win her second world road championship. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 16 of 50 Dutch teammates Anna Van Der Breggen and Marianne Vos power the winning break. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 17 of 50 The peloton turns onto the Cauberg climb. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 18 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) had enough time to grab a specator's flag on the finishing straight to fly across the finish line. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 19 of 50 Elisa Longo Borghin (Italy) rides to a bronze medal. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 20 of 50 Noemi Cantele (Itay) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 21 of 50 Marianne Vos is greeted by a wall of sound as she nears the finish line. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 22 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) bide her time in the peloton early in the race. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 23 of 50 Amber Neben (USA) and Rossella Ratto (Italy) on the attack with three laps remaining. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 24 of 50 Kristin McGrath (USA) drive a breakaway midway through the race. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 25 of 50 It's been six years since Marianne Vos last earned a gold medal at road Worlds. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 26 of 50 Women's road race podium (L-R): Rachel Neylan (Australia), Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 27 of 50 Emma Pooley (Great Britain) keeps an eye on pre-race favourite Marianne Vos (Netherlands) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 28 of 50 Defending world champion Giorgia Bronzini and her Italian teammates on the front row at the start of the women's road race world championship. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 29 of 50 The start line of the women's world championship road race. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 30 of 50 Pre-race favourite Marianne Vos (Netherlands) is introduced prior to the women's world championship road race. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 31 of 50 After five straight years of second place finishes at road Worlds, Marianne Vos added a second world title to her palmares in Valkenburg. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 32 of 50 Dutch teammates Marianne Vos and Anna Van Der Breggen drive the race-winning breakaway with two laps remaining. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 33 of 50 Marianne Vos proudly flies the Dutch flag across the finish line as she claims the second road world championship of her career. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 34 of 50 What better way for a Dutch cyclist to win a world chamionship is there than crossing the finish line alone on home soil while flying the national flag? (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 35 of 50 Rachel Neylan (Australia) on the podium to receive her silver medal. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 36 of 50 The 2012 women's road World medalists (L-R): Rachel Neylan, Marianne Vos and Elisa Longo Borghini (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 37 of 50 Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) crosses the finish line for third place. (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 38 of 50 The podium: Rachel Neylan (Australia), Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 39 of 50 Vos finally won her second road race rainbow jersey (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 40 of 50 Vos savours the moment (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 41 of 50 Vos got a huge cheer from the crowd (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 42 of 50 Rachel Neylan (Australia) was pleased with a medal (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 43 of 50 Vos is the pride of the Netherlands (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 44 of 50 Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) finished third (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 45 of 50 Vos hits the line and realises she is the world champion (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 46 of 50 Vos celebrates (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 47 of 50 Vos grabbed a Netherlands flag before crossing the line (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 48 of 50 Marianne Vos: world champion (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 49 of 50 Marianne Vos shows off her gold medal (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti) Image 50 of 50 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) flies the Dutch flag as she wins the 2012 road world championship on home soil. (Image credit: AFP)

The stage was set and Marianne Vos (Netherlands) didn't disappoint as she romped to victory in the women's road race at the world championships on home roads in Valkenburg.

After a remarkable and frustrating run of five successive silver medals, Vos ended her Worlds hoodoo in considerable style by attacking on the final climb of the Cauberg to win by 10 seconds from Rachel Neylan (Australia), while Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) came home a further 8 seconds back in third.

It was Vos' first world road title since she took the rainbow jersey as a neo-professional in Salzburg in 2006. In the intervening period, the 25-year-old has asserted her pre-eminence as the outstanding rider of her generation across a variety of disciplines, but had repeatedly fallen just short on the set-piece occasion.

In winning a thrilling road race at the London 2012 Olympics in August, however, Vos had perhaps already shaken off her fear of events, and even before she took flight on the Cauberg, there was an air of inevitability about her win.

"I knew how having the jersey felt from a long time ago, but I almost forgot after 2006," a delighted Vos said afterwards. "But this year has been very special, after the Olympics I focused really hard on this. I felt good and knew I had to profit from that."

The climb of the Cauberg was a heaving cavern of orange-clad supporters on Saturday afternoon, and Vos was always likely to forge her win on its slopes. Indeed, such was her comfort on the climb that she used it no fewer than three times as a platform to dictate the outcome of the race.

With just over two laps to go, Vos found herself corralled in the main peloton, 30 seconds behind a leading group that contained Rossella Ratto (Italy), Amber Neben (USA), Neylan (Australia), Charlotte Becker (Germany) and Vos' fellow countrywoman Anna Van der Breggen.

Sensing that the race for the rainbow jersey was in danger of unfolding without her, Vos simply took matters into her own hands, darting clear of the peloton on the Cauberg with only Longo Borghini for company. The Italo-Dutch pairing made the juncture with the leaders shortly afterwards, and with that firepower added to the mix there was little chance that they would be reeled back.

On the penultimate time up the Cauberg, Vos decided to unfurl another attack. Though lacking the ferocity of her move on the previous lap, the acceleration had the desired effect as Vos whittled down the leading group and issued a stark warning as to how the rest of the afternoon would unfold.

Only Longo Borghini and then Neylan could initially respond, while Van der Breggen and Neben would latch back on a kilometre later, but even at this stage there was a sense that the die had already been cast. Both Vos and Van der Breggen were particularly vigorous in their turns at the front of the winning break, and their intention must surely have been to draw the sting out of the rivals rather than keep their distance ahead of a peloton that was already over two minutes behind.

At the final reckoning up the Cauberg, the impressions of the previous time up the climb were confirmed. Just as the road kicked up its steepest point, Vos accelerated with venom and her move scattered the group across the hillside. Neylan edged away from Longo Borghini, while Neben and Van der Breggen watched their medal hopes slowly recede.

Up ahead, Vos was all but dancing up the Cauberg, pulling further and further away with every pedal stroke. The false flat over the top had proved fatal to the late attackers in the under-23 race in the morning, but Vos was operating on another plane.

As Vos zoomed up the finishing straight, she even had time to snatch a Dutch flag from a supporter on the roadside and freewheel across the line. After six long years, an aberration was finally put to rights.