Cervelo TestTeam Satisfied after German Women’s Race
The German International Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen was raced in six consecutive stages from July 20-25th. The women’s professional cycling road-race was won by Olga Zabelinskaja, who took the lead in the overall classification after the second stage.
While Zabelinskaja, riding for Safi-Pasta Zara, dominated for the majority of the race, the Cervelo TestTeam will be remembered for a fantastic performance in their race for the first time. Cervelo rider Iris Slappendel took a solo victory in the 134.5km final stage, crossing the finish line 1:34 ahead of her two former breakaway companions.
"I am just so happy," said Slappendel. "It was my nicest victory ever. It is a fantastic day. When I made the final attack out of the breakaway, which was not working well anymore, I just took my chance and pushed. I made the gap very quickly and 10km ahead of the finish I had 50 seconds. I kept on going full speed towards the finish. I really enjoyed the last 2km as I was sure that I would win the race."
The sixth stage was Slappendel’s only stage victory of the race, but she finished second place in the 128.7km circuit in Stage 3 in a group sprint finish behind HTC-Columbia rider Adrie Visser.
"I'm feeling a lot more confident about my sprinting recently and that's made all the difference," said Visser. "Today I was away in a group of 11 with [teammates] Luise [Keller] and Noemi Cantele, so we were in a very good position strategically. It was a tough day, with maybe 1,800 metres of climbing in total, but after doing well in the previous stages, I felt good."
Sleppendel’s Cervelo teammate Regina Bruins also took a second place finish in the 4th Stage, behind Hanka Kupfernagel of the German national team. Stage 4 was a 23.3km individual time trial, which Bruins finished 10 seconds behind the German and 16 seconds ahead of the overall leader Zabelinskaja.
"It was an amazing win today," said Egon van Kessel, Team Cervelo director. "It was one of the nicest victories I have seen this season, it was just very impressive. The race today fit very well with our tactics. We wanted to have a breakaway and it worked. A breakaway with about 8 riders, including Iris, formed about 60km from the finish. When the second group came closer, Iris attacked and pushed all the way to the finish. The attack came with about 20km to go and Iris was really strong and confident and never looked back."
Cervelo took another win with Sarah Duster in Stage 5. She finished ahead of two previous stage winners, Kupfernagel, who took the 4th, and Visser who took the 3rd. Zabelinskaja continued to maintain her grip on the overall classification.
"I'm very happy with my victory today," said Duster. "I haven't felt that strong during the first few days of this Tour as the heat really got to me. But now, since yesterday as the temperatures have gotten lower I feel good.”
Duster took the stage with an aggressive performance, powerful closing a long string of gaps. She took the downhill curve to the finish line on Kupfernagel’s wheel and attacked from there. The young Cervelo TestTeam, founded in 2009, pulled together for a tight and well supported performance at their first German race.
"Today we had quite a bit of activity in the first half of the race. A group of seventeen riders broke away at the beginning and soon after ten riders escaped from them, including Sarah Düster," said von Kessel. "Sarah was very much on the offensive and tried many attacks towards the finish. Though she was strong, she couldn't develop a big gap.”
The sixth and final stage was on Sunday with a 134.5km course in Zeulenroda, which finished with the second Cervelo stage win in a row, to Iris Slappendel, and the expected overall victory of Olga Zabelinskaja.
Regina Bruins
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