July 19/11 13:02 pm - Thuringen Rundfahrt: Prologue and Stage 1

Posted by Editoress on 07/19/11
 

Reports and results from the first 2 stages of the Thüringen Rundfahrt in Germany

Prologue
The women of HTC-Highroad reigned supreme on Monday in the Thüringen Rundfahrt prologue team time trial, finishing with a seven second lead and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg in the leader's Jersey. The route was a 3.4 kilometer loop around the city of Jena that challenged each team with more sharp, fast corners than climbs.

"It is great to have such a strong lead right out of the prologue," says sport director, Jens Zemke, "With such a short distance, the seven seconds is a lot."

Zemke and the team are confident that after todays results, they can hold their position through the forthcoming stages.

"Tomorrow is a one hundred and nineteen kilometer course, and we will have to be smart with our strategy on how to keep this lead. Even though it is a significant amount of time that does not mean we want to waste any of it."

"I see Thüringen Rundfahrt as the second biggest race on the calendar behind the Giro Donne," Zemke said, "Most stages are a hundred to one hundred thirty kilometers, there's a hard [individual] time trial- everything that makes a stage race hard is here. The organization of the race is superb."

"Judith Arndt did an excellent job pulling for the girls today, they all rode wonderfully and are ready for the next six days."

This marks the forty-first win of the season for the HTC-Highroad women, and after the men's recent success in France, the eighty-sixth win for HTC-Highroad this year.

Stage 1
Ina-yoko Teutenberg crossed the line today with a strong victory for the HTC-Highroad women in stage one of Thüringen Rundfahrt. After winning the leader's jersey in the prologue on Monday, the team is determined to defend their lead. With Teutenberg now at fourteen seconds ahead of HTC-Highroad's Judith Arndt, stage one was concluded successfully.

"The girls did a fantastic job today," says sport director, Jens Zemke, "We were quite busy in this stage, with a few crashes."

"Chloe [Hosking] went down and had to swap bikes, and Ina crashed also but luckily had no mechanical issues."

"There was a break of three minutes with one rider toward the end, and Chloe and Adrie [Visser] spent the last ten kilometers reeling her in."

"We had four girls controlling the pack while the other two brought the break in, and then they set up the leadout. It was perfectly timed, and Ina came across the line with a ten second time bonus and the yellow jersey."

With five more stages to go, the HTC-Highroad women intend to continue to bolster their lead with Teutenberg and Arndt in first and second for GC. This marks the forty-second win for the HTC-Highroad women's team this year.

Courtesy HTC-Highroad