Dutch phenomenon takes commanding lead in season-long competition
Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) won the second edition of the Gran Premio Ciudad de Valladolid, the sixth round of the women’s World Cup. The Dutch all rounder outsprinted the rest of an eight-rider breakaway at the end of the 124km race. Twenty year-old former World junior champion Rossella Callovi (MCipollini-Giambenini) was second, with Swedish champion Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK) in third.
The only attempt to escape in the first half of the race came from Alna Burato (French National Team) after just 21km; the Frenchwoman managed to gain an advantage of 50 seconds by the 35km point, but was pulled back in again after 43km.
With few obstacles on the course to provide the springboard for an attack, the peloton stayed together for the rest of the long loop and started the five 6.6km finishing circuits as one big bunch. With the profile of the circuit deceptively undulating though, the pace at the front caused it to split into three pieces midway through the first lap.
As she approached the finish line to complete that lap, Ina Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad) attacked and managed to get a ten second gap over the peloton. She was shortly joined by Shara Gillow (Australian National Team) and Fabiana Luperini (MCipollini-Giambenini), who recently came out of retirement. The three riders managed to get twenty seconds ahead, but were pulled back midway through the second circuit.
With two laps to go, the pace eased a little at the front and the peloton increased to around sixty riders. The speed went up once more, though, and it was down to thirty as the final lap began.
With three kilometres remaing the eight rider break went clear, made up of Vos, Callovi and Johansson, with Judith Arndt (HTC-Highroad), Noemi Cantele and Lizzie Armitstead (both Garmin-Cervélo), Elena Berlato (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi) and Maaike Polspoel (Topsport Vlaanderen 2012-Ridley) also present.
Despite having come down in the penultimate lap, in a crash that meant that teammate Annemiek van Vleuten missed the break, Vos overpowered the rest of the group, with Callovi taking her biggest ever senior result with second.
Linda Villumsen (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) rolled in behind the group, sixteen seconds back, while last year’s winner Charlotte Becker (HTC-Highroad) led the first big group over after 25 seconds.
Vos’ victory, her third in this year’s World Cup after the Ronde van Drenthe and la Flèche Wallonne, gives the 24-year-old a commanding lead in the overall standings. She takes over at the top from Nederland Bloeit teammate Annemiek van Vleuten, the winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, with just three rounds of the competition remaining.