Annemiek van Vleuten won the opening prologue of this year’s Giro Rosa in Caserta, Italy tonight.
The Dutch rider set the fastest time over the 2 kilometer course, with an average speed of over 50 km/h – finishing ahead of her Rabo-Liv teammates Marianne Vos, Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Anna van der Bregge – who dominated the race.
Meanwhile, Orica-GreenEdge’s Melissa Hoskins was the first rider outside of the Rabo-Liv team to place in the top five.
“I am usually good with prologues,” Van Vleuten said. "I trained at altitude before the Giro Rosa and this prologue really was a goal.”
Race Highlights
Today’s prologue saw 20 teams and 157 riders line-up to commence the start of this year’s 10-day stage race in the north of Naples, wherein each rider faced a one kilometer straight road before making a 180 degree turn for the same stretch back to the finish.
“The road was bumpy, to say the least,” Giant-Shimano’s Marijn de Vries said.
"The roads in Caserta were uneven, old slabs and with the sun set, it was hard to see the road ahead. “I was shaking so much that I couldn’t even see the first 200 meters ”.
Nevertheless, Van Vleuten succeeded in averaging 50.4 km/h, with a final time of 2.26.22 – placing her 0.81 seconds faster than Vos.
“Yeah we had to ride on these basalt blocks, just like last year in Florence at the world championships. I bounced from left to right but I am a heavier rider so I did okay.”
The newly crowned Dutch time trial champion also had this to say:
“This was the first time I got to show my red, white and blue jersey so that most definitely gave me extra motivation. The fact that the mechanics also painted my time trial bike in the national colors made me decide to right the time trial bike and not my road bike which I did consider at first.”
The Giro Rosa continues tomorrow with stage 1 in Santa Maria a Vico, a 95.2 kilometer course consisting of eleven laps around an 8.6 kilometer circuit which features a climb with each lap.
Result:
1. Annemiek van Vleuten(Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) 2,050 km in 2’26"22 at an average of 50,832 km/h;
2. Marianne Vos (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) with a gap of 0’’81
3. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) with a gap of 5’’
4. Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) with a gap of 7’’
5. Melissa Hoskins (Orica AIS) with a gap of 8’’
6. Roxane Knetemann (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) with a gap of 8’’
7. Jolien D’Horre (Lotto Belisol Ladies) with a gap of 9’’
8. Shelley Olds (Alè Cipollini Galassia) with a gap of 9’’
9. Eleonora van Dijk (Boels Dolmans Cycling) with a gap of 10’’
10. Amy Pieters (Team Giant Shimano)with a gap of 10”
General Classification:
1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team)
2. Marianne Vos (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) with a gap of 1’’
Jerseys:
1. PINK Derma Fresh, General Classification: Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team)
2. CYCLAMEN SMP Selle, Points Classification: Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team)
3. GREEN BIM, Best Climber Classification: Melissa Hoskins (Orica AIS)
4. WHITE Saugella, Best Young Classification: Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team)
5. BLUE Dama, Best Italian Classification: Tatiana Guderzo (Alè Cipollini Galassia)
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