Ellen Van Dijk win Sparkassen giro

Ellen Van Dijk of Team HTC-Columbia took the biggest win of her season on Sunday at the Sparkassen Giro in Germany. Van Dijk won the sprint from a breakaway group of nine riders in wet and miserable conditions.

“It wasn’t a nice day for riding,” said Van Dijk, “but I felt good once we started and we had a great day.”

Van Dijk went with a break seven riders with about 20km remaining in the race and managed to pull off the win at the end with the help of her teammate Evelyn Stevens.

“Evie bridged across to the break which was great because I was a bit isolated up there,” explained Van Dijk. When she caught us she just kept going and was off the front which forced the others to chase. She couldn’t hold it all the way to the finish but even when she got caught she just kept riding hard so that the break would stay away.

“That was perfect for me for the sprint. Just before the final Vicki Whitelaw attached and I hopped on her wheel. This turned out to be a great lead-out and I was able to come around her on the last corner to win the sprint.

“For sure it’s really cool to finally win again, it’s a good feeling,” she added.
HTC-Columbia’s  Chloe Hosking won the bunch sprint for the second day in a row.