Hopes to be competitive in sprints
Flèche Wallonne runner-up Emma Johannson was closest to Marianne Vos in yesterday’s Classic, but admits there was little she could do when her rival hit the gas close to the top of the Mur de Huy. She went from further out, but Vos stuck to her wheel and then floored it, ripping clear and reaching the line three seconds ahead.
“I did all I could, but Marianne was very good in the sprint. I didn’t really have much left over when she pulled it off in the last 100 metres,” she said in a video interview with VeloNation. “I am satisfied, you have to be – when you have done everything you can, you just have to be satisfied with what happens.”
Vos took over as leader of the women’s World Cup, but has indicated that she won’t defend the jersey in the next event; she has been racing for months already, riding cross events and also track races. She needs time off competing, particularly as she wants to continue until the world championships in the autumn.
Johannson hasn’t competed as much, but said that she too is keen to have a short break. She will however race the next round of the World Cup, the Tour of Chongming Island, and there the Swedish national champion hopes to be successful.
“I have done the race one time before. It is all flat, but maybe I can get a chance to see how far I can get in the sprint,” the Team Hitec Products UCK rider said. “I know I am strong, I just need to have more luck in the last kilometres. I have confidence and can do it, I just need to believe in it…”