Both Wild and Dideriksen were involved in a crash earlier in the race, but both returned to the peloton with little trouble as the race was subdued early on.

A lone break by Japan’s Eri Yonamine from the flag gave the peloton a rabbit to chase, and Switzerland’s Nicole Hanselmann joined Yonamine up the road on the Pearl-Qatar circuit.

With the Netherlands already forcing the pace and riding aggressively on the front of the bunch, the gap never looked too threatening, however.

There were still 70km to race when the duo were swept up as Amy Pieters, Marianne Vos and Anna van der Breggen all putting in strong digs to gradually thin the bunch out.

She went early, into the wind, and looked to be en route to a gold medal and the rainbow jersey, but Dideriksen came off her wheel to snatch victory.

Lepisto took third, with Deignan just outside the medals after a spirited defence of the rainbow jersey.

UCI Road World Championships 2016: women’s road race – result

1) Amalie Dideriksen – Denmark – 3.10.27hrs
2) Kirsten Wild – Netherlands – ST
3) Lotta Lepisto – Finland
4) Lizzie Deignan – Great Britain
5) Marta Bastianelli – Italy
6) Roxane Fournier – France
7) Chloe Hosking – Australia
8) Sheyla Gutierrez Ruiz – Spain
9) Joelle Numainville – Canada
10) Jolien d’Hoore – Belgium