Cervélo rules the north as Pooley and Wild continue
Wild takes a hat trick at Roeselare
Cervélo’s Kirsten Wild showed once again that she is the sprinter to beat this season by adding her third successive GP Stad Roeselare to her second successive win at the Omloop Van Borsele. 19-year-old Australian emerging talent Chloe Hosking (HTC-Columbia) got the closest to beating the big Dutchwoman with Eurocup Ronde van Drenthe winner Annemiek Van Vleuten coming in third.
Result GP Stad Roeselare (1.1)
1. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
2. Chloe Hosking (Aus) HTC-Columbia
3. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
4. Emma Johansson (Swe) RedSun Cycling
5. Christine Majerus (Lux) ESGL93-GSD Gestion
Pooley shows TT class at GP Suisse
Emma Pooley of Cervélo managed to hold on to her Flèche Wallonne winning form to take victory in the GP Suisse time trial. The race, over 23.4km, ran over the same course as the Tour de Romandie stage 3 would run an hour later and the Olympic silver medallist found the undulating terrain of her country of residence to her liking. Once again it was an HTC-Columbia rider pushing the Cervélo rider the hardest in the form of Judith Arndt, but the 33-year-old German could only get to within 34 seconds of the Briton’s time. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli, despite being well past her 51st birthday, was next fastest, just 11 seconds behind Arndt.
Result GP Suisse (1.1)
1. Emma Pooley (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 34s
3. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Fra) France @ 45s
4. Sharon Laws (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam
5. Carla Ryan (Aus) Cervélo TestTeam
Baccaille ends her Bronzini hex at the GP Liberazione
Italian champion Monia Baccaille (Team Valdarno) finally managed to best her nemesis Giorgia Bronzini (Gauss-RDZ-Ormu) in the GP Liberazione, but it took a photo finish to do it. A perfect lead out from her teammates, including World champion Tatiana Guderzo and Oceania champion Bridie O’Donnell allowed Baccaille to hold off the former World points race champion, but only just. Alessandro D’Ettore finished third for the second successive year in the race that marks Italy’s liberation in 1945 from the regime of Mussolini.
Result GP Liberazione (1.2)
1. Monia Baccaille (Ita) Team Valdarno
2. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu
3. Alessandra D’Ettorre (Ita) Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi
4. Rasa Leleivyte (Ltu) Safi-Pasta Zara
5. Rossella Callovi (Ita) Vecchia Fontana
Abbott takes control early at the Tour of the Gila
Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co-TWENTY12) escaped on the final climb of a windy stage 1 to finish almost two and a half minutes ahead of the rest. New Zealander Catherine Cheatley (Colavita-Baci) came in second, just over half a minute ahead of Webcor’s Catherine Mattis.
Stage 2 proved to be even more windy and saw Colavita-Baci pair Carmen Small an Andrea Dvorak escape together, holding off the field to finish almost two minutes clear. The team’s perfect day was completed when Cheatley took third place just in front of a small group that contained Abbott.
Stage 3’s time trial saw specialist Alison Powers (VBF) dominate. The 30-year-old from Colorado finished more than a minute and a half ahead of Canadian Erinne Willock (Webcor), with US road champion Meredith Miller (Tibco) taking third. Abbot finished 7th and holds on to her race lead with two stages to go, but with Powers now not very far behind.
Result stage 1
1. Mara Abbott (USA) Peanut Butter & Co-TWENTY12
2. Catherine Cheatley (NZl) Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light @ 2:27
3. Katheryn Mattis (USA) Webcor Builders @ 2:59
Result stage 2
1. Carmen Small (USA) Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light
2. Andrea Dvorak (USA) Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light
3. Catherine Cheatley (NZl) Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light @ 1:52
Result stage 3
1. Alison Powers (USA) VBF Women’s Pro Team
2. Erinne Willock (Can) Webcor Builders @ 1:32
3. Meredith Miller (USA) Team Tibco @ 1:44
Standings after stage 3
1. Mara Abbott (USA) Peanut Butter & Co-TWENTY12
2. Alison Powers (USA) VBF Women’s Pro Team @ 1:08
3. Andrea Dvorak (USA) Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light @ 3:05
The Dutch rule Gracia-Orlova
Marianne Vos’ Nederland Bloeit team exercised total dominance in the 2.2-ranked stage race in the Czech Republic and Poland. On the cobbled uphill finish in Dětmarovice Vos outsprinted British champion Nicole Cooke (Great Britain), while six seconds behind them her teammate Annemiek Van Vleuten beat Svetlana Bubnenkova to take the final podium position.
Stage 2 in Lichnov saw the Nederland Bloeit pair blew the rest of the race away as the escaped on the descent of the first climb. The pair embarked on an 80km two-up time trial to the finish where Van Vleuten took the stage victory. Cooke completed the podium once more, but finished an incredible 12’18” behind the two Dutchwomen. With three stages left the race is reduced to a two-horse race between the two teammates.
Result stage 1
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
2. Nicole Cooke (GBr) Great Britain
3. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 6s
Result stage 2
1. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
3. Nicole Cooke (GBr) Great Britain @ 12:18
Standings after stage 2
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
1. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 9s
3. Nicole Cooke (GBr) Great Britain @ 12:27