Emma Johansson

Emma Johansson (born 23 September 1983) is a Swedish retired professional racing cyclist. Nicknamed Silver Emma, Johansson accumulated many second and third places at major championships and one-day classics. In 2013 she finished the year as number one on the UCI Women's World Ranking.

She won the silver medal in the women's road race at both the 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics, as well as one silver and two bronze medals at the Road World championships. She also holds a record four podium finishes at the women's Tour of Flanders, with one second and three third places. Despite her amassment of podium places, she won several one-day races, including Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Ronde van Drenthe, Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Omloop van het Hageland, Le Samyn and the Holland Hills Classic.

Johansson was also successful in stage races. She won the Thüringen Rundfahrt three times, the Emakumeen Euskal Bira twice and the Belgium Tour once. In addition, she won one stage in the 2012 Giro Rosa and finished in the top ten in all three of her Giro Rosa participations.

Early life and amateur career

Emma Johansson was born in Sollefteå, in northern Sweden. She engaged in cross-country skiing with the Sollefteå Ski Club at an early age, before taking an interest in mountainbiking through her older brother. She trained on military training fields, close to her house, which offered dirt roads and illuminated trails. She won her first silver medal in 1996, at the age of 12, at the Swedish national mountainbike championships in Uddevalla.

2008

Johansson's breakthrough year was 2008. She signed with AA-Drink Cycling Team and had a successful spring classics campaign, claiming third place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 7th at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and 9th in the Tour of Flanders.

On 10 August 2008, Emma Johansson won the silver medal in the women's road race at the Beijing Olympics. She followed an attack by Tatiana Guderzo, at 13 km from the finish, which brought her in the lead group with Nicole Cooke, Christiane Soeder and Linda Villumsen. Britain's Nicole Cooke won the event in the five-woman sprint, Johansson claimed the silver ahead of Guderzo. Three day later, she placed 21st in the women's time trial.

After the Summer Olympics, she claimed the general classification of the Trophée d'Or Féminin after she won the fifth stage in a six-woman breakaway. At the World Championships Road Race in Florence, Johansson was again in a winning five-woman breakaway after she followed an attack of Marianne Vos. The race, like the olympic road race, was won by Nicole Cooke, who beat Vos in the sprint. Johansson finished fourth.

2009

After finishing second in the 2009 Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio and third in Ronde van Vlaanderen, she won the Ronde van Drenthe and took the overall lead of the UCI Women's Road World Cup, a lead which she kept after another second place in La Flèche Wallonne Féminine. Johansson was the second Swedish cyclist to wear the UCI World Cup leader jersey after Susanne Ljungskog.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed in women's road race finishing 6th and in the women's time trial finishing 14th.

In August 2015, it was announced that Johansson would join Wiggle High5 on a two-year deal.

On 8 January 2011, she married the former Norwegian cyclist Martin Vestby (in Swedish), who is also her personal manager. They live in Zingem, Belgium, and have one son, born on 11 April 2018.

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