photo credit @ La Route de France Féminine
Amy Pieters won the opening prologue of this year’s La Route de France Féminine yesterday, subsequently tasking control of the overall classification.
The Dutch rider stormed her way to victory, along the 3 kilometer time trial course in 3:40, beating Eugenia Bujak (BTC City Ljubljana) by two seconds, while Optum’s Brianna Walle claimed 3rd spot on the podium – at three seconds back.
“It’s a nice way to start the race with a win!” Pieters said. “The course was fast and not too technical so I think this suited me well today, a short hard effort.”
“The next few days should be alright for me but after that the stages start to get really hard and from there we will be looking after Claudia,” Pieters said. “It’s great to have the jersey and having it in the team puts us in a good situation now to defend it within the team for the coming days.”
Meanwhile, thanks to the excellent lead-out work by her Liv-Plantur team, two-time junior world champion Lucy Garner claimed today’s stage 1, after edging out Annette Edmondson (Wiggle Honda) and Roxane Fournier (Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.87) in a sprint finish.
“I’m really happy to have won today – it has been a hard few months with a lot of crashes for me but the team have always believed in me,” Garner said. “The girls had trust that I could finish it off today and get the win. They worked hard for me in the final and then Amy finished it off perfectly by bringing me to the finish after fighting for position in the in the last kilometres.”
“After Amy’s win yesterday it is nice to keep the win within the team today as well. It was close on the line, I thought I had it but then as we came over the line I wasn’t so sure. So I’m really happy to get the win.”
Top 20 Opening Prologue
1 Amy Pieters (Ned) Team Liv – Plantur 0:03:40 2 Eugenia Bujak (Pol) Btc City Ljubljana 0:00:02 3 Brianna Walle (USA) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:03 4 Jaime Nielsen (NZl) Bepink Laclassica 0:00:04 5 Annette Edmondson (Aus) Wiggle Honda 0:00:04 6 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:05 7 Lauren Kitchen (Aus) Hitec Products 0:00:05 8 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 0:00:06 9 Aude Biannic (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.90 0:00:06 10 Martina Ritter (Aut) Btc City Ljubljana 0:00:07 11 Jasmin Glaesser (Can) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:08 12 Silvia Valsecchi (Ita) Bepink Laclassica 0:00:09 13 Amy Cure (Aus) Lotto Soudal Ladies 0:00:09 14 Claudia Lichtenberg (Ger) Team Liv – Plantur 0:00:10 15 Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen (Nor) Hitec Products 0:00:11 16 Maura Kinsella (USA) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:12 17 Jessie Daams (Bel) Lotto Soudal Ladies 0:00:12 18 Daiva Tuslaite (Ltu) Inpa Sottoli Giusfredi 0:00:13 19 Polona Batagelj (Slo) Btc City Ljubljana 0:00:13 20 Kimberley Wells (Aus) Australia
General classification after prologue
Top 20 Stage 1
1 Lucy Garner (GBr) Team Liv – Plantur 2:47:49 2 Annette Edmondson (Aus) Wiggle Honda 3 Roxane Fournier (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.87 4 Anna Trevisi (Ita) Inpa Sottoli Giusfredi 5 Aurore Verhoeven (Fra) Lointek Team 6 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 7 Lauren Kitchen (Aus) Hitec Products 8 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 9 Amy Pieters (Ned) Team Liv – Plantur 10 Kimberley Wells (Aus) Australia 11 Oxana Kozonchuk (Rus) Russia 12 Brianna Walle (USA) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 13 Loren Rowney (Aus) Australia 14 Kseniia Dobrynina (Rus) Astana – Acca Due O 15 Fiona Dutriaux (Fra) France 16 Larisa Pankova (Rus) Astana – Acca Due O 17 Eugenia Bujak (Pol) Btc City Ljubljana 18 Nel De Crits (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Pro – Duo 19 Aude Biannic (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.90 20 Ingrid Drexel (Mex) Astana – Acca Due O
General classification after stage 1
1 Amy Pieters (Ned) Team Liv – Plantur 2:51:28 2 Eugenia Bujak (Pol) Btc City Ljubljana 0:00:03 3 Brianna Walle (USA) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:04 4 Jaime Nielsen (NZl) Bepink Laclassica 5 Annette Edmondson (Aus) Wiggle Honda 6 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:05 7 Lauren Kitchen (Aus) Hitec Products 0:00:06 8 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 9 Aude Biannic (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.90 0:00:07 10 Martina Ritter (Aut) Btc City Ljubljana 11 Jasmin Glaesser (Can) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:00:08 12 Silvia Valsecchi (Ita) Bepink Laclassica 0:00:09 13 Amy Cure (Aus) Lotto Soudal Ladies 14 Claudia Lichtenberg (Ger) Team Liv – Plantur 0:00:11 15 Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen (Nor) Hitec Products 0:00:12 16 Maura Kinsella (USA) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 17 Jessie Daams (Bel) Lotto Soudal Ladies 18 Daiva Tuslaite (Ltu) Inpa Sottoli Giusfredi 0:00:13 19 Polona Batagelj (Slo) Btc City Ljubljana 20 Kimberley Wells (Aus) Australia
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