Vos repeats at Ronde van Drenthe

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In only her second road race of the season Dutch champion Marianne Vos (Rabo Women's Team) has won the Ronde van Drenthe, the opening round of the UCI Women's Road World Cup contested on home soil in Hoogeveen. The victory was Vos's second straight at the Ronde van Drenthe as the 24-year-old Dutchwoman outsprinted Kirsten Wild (AA Drink - Leontien.nl Cycling Team) and Swedish champion Emma Johansson (Hitec Products - Mistral Home Cycling Team) from an 18-rider lead group.

"I'm really pleased with this win, but particularly pleased with the fact that the team worked so well together," said Vos on the team's website. "The communication was excellent and we now seem to be in tune with each other. Iris Slappendel, Roxane Knetemann and Sarah Düster put in a lot of work into the pursuit. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot also closed the last bit to Chantal Blaak and caught up with a number of riders, despite falling. This creates great confidence for the rest of the season."

Vos was part of a group of seven riders in front that formed over the first cobbled surface in the race and which also included her teammate Sarah Düster as well as Kirsten Wild (AA Drink - Leontien.nl Cycling Team), Trixi Worrack (Team Specialized - Lululemon), Loes Gunnewijk and Judith Arndt (GreenEdge-AIS) plus Adrie Visser (Skil 1t4i). Eventually this select group grew to approximately 30 riders as the race progressed.

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"I had given the order to really push it before the first cobbled surface, so that we would get over the first cobbles without too many issues," said Rabo Women's Team directeur sportif Jeroen Blijlevens. "As a result Vos and Düster were in the leading group that formed. Later on another group joined up and the rest of the team were also with them, except for Liesbet de Vocht who is not completely fit and missed the boat."

Chantal Blaak (AA Drink - Leontien.nl Cycling Team) broke away on the penultimate climb of the VAM climb, with features a gradient of 23 percent at its steepest part, but Vos's teammates led the chase to neutralise Blaak's attack by the final ascent of the VAM.

"Before the race the plan was to make an attempt on the final climb of the VAM hill, but the pursuit, in which we received no help from the other teams, had cost us too much energy," said Blijlevens. "Therefore we focused on Marianne's sprint."

In the final kilometres to the finish, various riders attempted to break away from the lead group, but Vos and her teammate Ferrand-Prevot were able to keep the group together.

Vos had only opened her road season two day's prior, but she proved that no matter the terrain or time of year she's always a threat for victory.

"I had to see how it would go for me in the bunch sprint, but it worked out fine." said Vos. "In the sprint I joined Kirsten Wild's train. When she started it I went along with her immediately and rode blind to the finish in the hope that nobody else would get past us."