Olympic champion escapes a break of three to take her first edition of the Breton race
Marianne Vos (Rabobank) crowned a totally dominant 2012 World Cup with victory in the Grand Prix Plouay-Bretagne in the cycling-mad village of Plouay, southern Brittany. The Olympic champion, who has led the eight-race series since her victory in the Ronde van Drenthe back in March, escaped a breakaway of three riders on the final lap of the 132km race and continued to take a solo victory.
Tiffany Cromwell (Orica-GreenEdge) finished second, 35 seconds behind Vos, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products-Mistral Home) taking third, another four seconds back. The sprint for fourth was taken by Dutch prodigy Anna van der Breggen (Sengers Ladies), ahead of 2011 runner up Evie Stevens (Specialized-lululemon) and Luisa Tamanini (Faren-Honda), 2’40” back; the peloton was led home by 2008 winner, Tamanini’s teammate Fabiana Luperini, after 4’09”.
“Its always the team plan to go for the win, but it was not the plan,” said Vos. “I had the World Cup jersey on my shoulders already, so it was pretty nice to win this race. I tried to attack earlier, but I had some problems, so I had to recover a bit and then in the last lap, I was recovered and I was happy to be in the break.
“Immediately we had a good gap and it was great to do it,” she added. “After I attacked I was little tired, but I thought, ‘it’s the World Cup, everyone’s tired’ and I just went for it.”
A slow start to the race saw the peloton stay together but, towards the end of the second of the 27km laps, the peloton splits in two and those caught behind never saw the front of the race again. On lap three more attacks saw the front group reduced to around 35 riders, but was an attack from Cromwell on the penultimate lap that saw the her, Vos and Longo Borghini ride away.
“Today was a really big team effort, and it was my turn to fly the flag,” said Cromwell afterwards. “I’m happy to do the job and deliver the result.”
The three riders – who represented three of the strongest teams in the race – steadily built their lead over the chasing pack and, as they took the bell with just 27km to go, they were 40 seconds clear. This increased to more than two minutes on the final lap and, with with five kilometres to go, Vos made her move.
“Vos attacked us on the last climb, and I had nothing left,” said Cromwell. “She rode away from us but never got too much of a gap. I attacked Elisa on a small rise at 1.5 kilometers and got a gap on her. I held it to the finish to comfortably finish second.”
Having finished second, second and third in the last three editions – the last of which coming after having facilitated the victory of teammate Annemiek van Vleuten – Vos has finally added her name to the honours list of one of the toughest one-day races in women’s cycling. The Dutchwoman finished the 2012 World Cup – having won in Drenthe and at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in March, and never having missed the podium in the World Cups she has ridden – with almost twice as many points as her nearest challenger, Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Judith Arndt (Orica-GreenEdge).
Vos had already confirmed her overall victory in the World Cup in the previous week’s Open de Suède Vårgårda, but her Plouay win also secured the Stichting Rabo Women the season-long team classification.
“The team classification was most important today,” said Vos. “I wasn’t feeling really super and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot was having difficulties as well, so it was a bit exciting to see if we could manage. In the beginning of the season we had not anticipated that we would easily win it in our first year, but the team has been really doing well since the start of the season. Not only during World Cup races, but actually we are a team to be reckoned with for all races.”
Result 2012 GP Plouay-Bretagne
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Stichting Raboabank
2. Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge @ 35s
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Hitec Products-Mistral Home @ 39s
4. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Sengers Ladies Team @ 2’40”
5. Evelyn Stevens (USA) Specialized-lululemon
6. Luisa Tamanini (Ita) Faren-Honda @ 2’43”
7. Fabiana Luperini (Ita) Faren-Honda @ 4’09”
8. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Specialized-lululemon
9. Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) MCipollini-Giambenini
10. Judith Arndt (Ger) Orica-GreenEdge
Final 2012 World Cup standings
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Stichting Raboabank 335pts
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) Orica-GreenEdge 187
3. Evelyn Stevens (USA) Specialized-lululemon 152
4. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Specialized-lululemon 142
5. Shelley Olds (USA) AA Drink-Leontien.nl 125
6. Emma Johansson (Swe) Hitec Products-Mistral Home 110
7. Iris Slappendel (Ned) Stichting Rabobank 109
8. Kirsten Wild (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl 108
9. Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 89
10. Linda Villumsen (NZl) Orica-GreenEdge 76