Vos wins Sparkassen Giro World Cup

World champion Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) won the inaugural edition of the Sparkassen Giro World Cup, beating Italian Giorgia Bronzini in the sprint.

Finland's Lotta Lepistö (Bigla) was third.

The eight-lap, 15.5km circuit had one climb, but despite their best efforts, teams like Rabo-Liv, Specialized-Lululemon and Orica-AIS could not break up the bunch. Vos was led into the final turn by her teammate Annamiek van Vleuten, then handily won the sprint.

"The pace was high throughout the race and there were attacks but it was just like on the Champs Elysées, nobody really got away," Vos said.

Bronzini was disappointed to miss out on the victory on her birthday, but said her form was on the rise, and she was happy with second place.

"I took Vos' wheel in the last kilometres, and she led into the first corner," Bronzini said. "It was a kind of crazy corner, of about 90 degrees, so it was hard and she never used her brakes! If I was crazy I would have followed her, but a few years ago I broke my shoulder so…"

The World Cup leader Elizabeth Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) was busy winning the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, but still kept her lead in the series standings over Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS).

The largely flat, fast course meant that no attacks could go clear in the first half of the race, and despite a number of breakaway attempts in the second part, the group came together for the finish.

Vos had entered into one breakaway with Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS), among others, but the move was short-lived. Orica-AIS sent Jessie Maclean up the road, Mayuko Hagiwara (Wiggle-Honda) also went on a solo move, but neither could stay clear.

"It was hard. It's a city circuit. It's fast and you have to stay at the front and stay alert. I tried to attack but the end it was a bunch sprint after all," Vos said.

With Armitstead's lead in the standings relatively secure, the main competition then fell to the battle for the minor classifications. Iris Slappendel (Rabo-Liv) took the lead from Australia's Rebecca Wiasak, taking second place on both sprints behind Astana Be Pink's Anna Maria Stricker.

Astana-Be Pink also took the mountains jersey back with Alena Amialiusik getting ahead of previous jersey holder Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabo-Liv) who did not race, and Elena Cecchini (Estado de Mexico Faren) taking the lead in the young rider's classification from Ferrand Prevot.

Slappendel had special motivation to take over the sprint jersey: "I designed the jerseys myself and now I would like to take one home too but it's not a goal for the team in itself."

Rabo-Liv kept the lead in the teams classification.

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