HTC’s Visser takes over lead
The Cervélo TestTeam won the 34.5km stage 2 team time trial of the Tour de l’Aude to make it three victories in the three stages so far. The black and white team completed the course around Clermont l’Herault in 48’05”, 35 seconds quicker than big rivals HTC-Columbia. The race didn’t quite go perfectly to plan though as Cervélo’s race leader Lizzie Armitstead punctured in the first kilometres and was left behind. This means that HTC-Columbia’s overnight second-place Adrie Visser takes over the race lead. The Nederland Bloeit team of Marianne Vos finished third, just 19 seconds behind HTC-Columbia to keep the Dutch champion in touch in the overall standings.
“I am extremely satisfied with the team’s performance today,” said Cervélo TestTeam Sport Director Egon van Kessel. “It was definitively a challenging course through narrow village roads, sharp corners and other technical highlights but the team was incredibly strong. The only thing that was not so nice today was Elisabeth Armitstead’s flat tire after only one kilometre. Her wish was that the team continue racing and not wait for her.”
“I’m very happy about the team time trial today. It was a hard stage but with the victory the pain was paid back,” commented Cervélo’ British time trial champion Emma Pooley. “To win with such a big margin was really great for us. So far we have had a very good Tour de l’Aude. I am looking forward to the other stages. Seven days are left and there are still some challenges in front of us.“
With time losses limited to 20 seconds over the first team, 30 over the second and so on, the stage has made little difference to the overall classification, other than Armitstead; the top of the standings is still dominated by yesterday’s breakaway.
Tomorrow’s third stage will be 110km around the village of Lezignan Corbières, featuring two 2nd category climbs. While the terrain invites a breakaway, and features the first real climbing of the race, the long run in allows the peloton to regroup. Last year’s identical stage was won by HTC-Columbia’s Ina Teutenberg in a bunch sprint.
Result stage 2
1. Cervélo TestTeam (Ned)
2. HTC-Columbia (Ger) @ 35s
3. Nederland Bloeit (Ned) @ 54s
4. United States National Team (USA) @ 2’01”
5. Team Tibco (USA) @ 2’43”
6. RedSun Cycling Team (Bel) @ 2’51”
7. Leontien.nl (Ned) @ 3’40”
8. Safi-Pasta Zara (Ita) @ 3’41”
9. Noris Cycling Team (Ger) @ 3’43”
10. Fenixs-Petrogadgets (Rus) @ 3’43”
Standings after stage 2
1. Adrie Visser (Ned) HTC-Columbia
2. Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 23s
3. Katheryn Mattis (USA) United State National Team @ 40s
4. Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam @ 56s
5. Chantal Blaak (Ned) Leontien.nl @ 1’02”