May 20/09 19:04 pm - Tour de l'Aude: Stage 5

Posted by Editoress on 05/20/09
 

Armstrong wins, Bruins retains yellow

Cervélo TestTeam continues to dominate the Tour de l'Aude with today's victory by Kristin Armstrong. Armstrong won the stage in a sprint with Amber Neben, third place went to Grace Verbeke. Regina Bruins and Claudia Häusler finished approximately 40 seconds behind the sprint. The GC remains the same with Bruins in the yellow jersey and Häusler in second.

"From the beginning there were a lot of attacks as they tried to make it difficult for us but the team worked really well to chase them back every time," said Sports Director, Manel Lacambra. "In the final there was a break of 10 riders, that we decided to bring Lieselot Decroix into. There were no dangerous riders in this breakaway. In the last climb Amber Neben attacked, Kristin Armstrong followed her together with Grace Verbeke (Lotto Belisol). Claudia and Regina stayed on the wheels of Trixi Worrack and Marianne Vos. The three girls stayed in front and in the final Grace Verbeke was dropped and Kristin won beating Neben in the sprint."

"I didn't want to give full power in the break," said Kristin Armstrong, "because it is tricky to rein in Amber Neben. Tomorrow is another climbing day, and they will make it really difficult for us again so we need to work and stay together".

Report by Cervélo TestTeam

Kristin Armstrong on her way to winning Stage 5 (photo by C J Farquharson)