LIZZIE Armitstead has won the legal battle now she has to win the Olympic war.

The world champion goes into Sunday’s women’s road race in Rio under immense pressure.

But Otley’s star is famed for her steely determination and she will need it as she tries to let her cycling do the talking.

Just how much the anxiety caused by her three week suspension for missing three drugs tests has affected her preparations will only be known once the racing starts.

The 27-year-old has had a glorious year with victories in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Stade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and Aviva Women’s Tour, but the Olympics has always been her number one target.

She has always expected the Rio course to be tough but she never factored a ferocious backlash from the media into her calculations.

The competition in Sunday’s race will certainly be of the highest quality.

Dutch rider Marianne Vos, who pipped her for gold in 2012 is moving ominously back into form after illness, while two of her Boels Dolmans team-mates Megan Guarnier and Evie Stevens are among the favourites along with their new signing for 2017 Anna Van der Breggen

Armitstead will have thousands of people in her home town willing her on and hoping their darling can realise her Olympic dream at the end of a traumatic week.