Swede, Emma Johansson (Orica - AIS) in the lead group(Image credit: CJ Farquharson / WomensCycling.net )
This pair were previously team-mates, Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products) and Emma Johansson (Orica - AIS)(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda) took second place ahead of Amy Pieters (Argos-Shimano) and Emma Johansson (Orica - AIS) (Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
Fourth place on the stage was enough to put Emma Johansson (Hitec Products) in second on GC(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
The Australian Orica-AIS women's team had to settle for the bronze medal at the UCI road world championship team time trial in Florence, Italy on Sunday. The runner-up in last year's inaugural event, Orica was in contention at the first check at kilometer 9.7, just 1.87 seconds down on eventual winners Specialized-lululemon, but over the next 18km they had conceded 50 seconds, and in the technical final kilometers in Florence, they dropped behind the Rabo-LivGiant team.
Did a crash in training during the previous day, on one of the corners in that section impact their race? Sweden's Emma Johansson didn't think it was the main factor.
"We had a small crash in training yesterday in the technical part. Shara [Gillow] went down and took a couple of other girls down. Luckily nobody got hurt since it wasn't at high speed. It can get into your head, but it wasn't because of that that we didn't get first or second today."
Gillow admitted the team took that turn with a bit more caution on race day, "But every corner is a risk. We did the best with what we could on the corner."
Johansson said that the team hasn't put as much focus into the team time trial this year. "We didn't have any specific camps or anything. Literally it's the first time we've had the team put together. We've done some team time trials, but we've never been the six of us that were here today."
"We had the strongest ride today - we opened up really strongly and had a really awesome start, we did blow up a bit but I prefer to do it that way and have a crack for the win, then if you can't manage all the way you had a go. It makes you stronger for next year. I'm sure all the girls did everything they could.
"We just have to congratulate the other two teams who were stronger today. I know Lululemon has been awesome all year, and I knew we had a chance, but they were stronger and faster."
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
