Three-peat for Teutenberg at Drentse 8

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For the third straight year, HTC-Columbia's Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won the Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo race in the Netherlands. The 35-year-old German beat Emma Johansson (Redsun Cycling Team) and Annemiek Van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) in a seven-rider sprint for victory.

"It was a spectacular win and it came after some really hard racing," said HTC-Columbia sports director Ronny Lauke. "Ina and [HTC-Columbia teammate] Adrie Visser got into an 11-rider break that was only 25 seconds ahead at most for 40 kilometres all the way to the finish.

"The two led into a cobbled section at the head of the pack with about three kilometres to go and they realized they were two of the strongest riders present. So then Adrie made the rest of the break suffer by going flat out with Ina on her back wheel until the last 300 metres.

"Another rider tried to open up the sprint, but Ina reacted quickly and won by a bike-length."

Lauke said he was particularly pleased because "the win came about thanks to some great teamwork. We've ironed out all the little mistakes that sometimes occur when there are new teammates in a squad, and after some great races in America, now we've got our first victory of the season in Europe, too."

Teutenberg's victory is the 10th for HTC-Columbia women's team this year and her seventh in the 2010 season so far.

The next race of the Drenthe series will be the World Cup round, held on Saturday.