Stage 4
ARNDT MOVES INTO SECOND OVERALL AFTER TT WIN
HTC-Columbia’s Judith Arndt took the victory at stage four of Route de France on Thursday clocking the fastest time in the 24.3km time trial in Saint Georges/Baulche. The win moves her into second place in the general classification, only one second behind leader Annemiek Van Vleuten, with two stages remaining in the race.
“It was a good race for me,” said Arndt. “I felt good the whole way. The roads are dead here so maybe it helped that I’ve been training in Australia on similar roads, but overall it was a really nice course. A little bit windy and a few smaller hills.
Arndt gained precious time on some of her GC competitors in Wednesday’s stage by making it into the 13 riders break that gained over three minutes on the field.
“We worked hard to get the advantage yesterday but towards the end of that stage I was able to save some energy and sit on because we also had Adrie [Visser] and Ina [Teutenberg] in the break and they worked to keep the gap high.
“However I’m still one second behind on Annemiek and she is riding well and can sprint really well. The next two stages are harder than the previous stages which is good. We’ll have to sit down tonight and come up with a plan of how to take GC. I will try everything for sure, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Stage 1
TEUTENBERG CLAIMS 21ST WIN OF 2010 AT ROUTE DE FRANCE
HTC-Columbia's Ina-Yoko Teutenberg claimed her twenty-first victory of the season on Monday when she crossed the line ahead of the field to win stage one of the Route de France. Teutenberg was the fastest on the 116.4-kilometre stage from Guingamp to Locmine which saw lots of different attacks before the race finally came together.
"It was a very fast-moving stage and it wasn't ever certain it was going to be a bunch sprint," said HTC-Columbia sports director Ronny Lauke. "Judith [Arndt, HTC-Columbia] brought back one dangerous move on a last climb, and after that Ina could go for it in the sprint."
"I wanted to lead out Adrie [Visser, HTC-Columbia] for the sprint but I actually went too hard with 300 metres go and we lost contact," Teutenberg said later. "I ended up closing a gap on some other riders, and then could hold off [Giorgia] Bronzini [of Italy] to get the win. It was a pretty flat finish, fairly straightforward, but I didn't feel too great doing the sprint. The sprint hurt a lot more than it usually does. I haven't raced since the Giro and I was suffering a lot on that last hill. I was about to get dropped."
A winner of two stages last year in the Route de France, Teutenberg says there are at least two more stages that could end in bunch sprints. "We want to go for GC here, and there's a time trial on Thursday, where [HTC-Columbia rider] Judith [Arndt] could be going for yellow. So we'll take it day by day and see how it goes."
