Johansson wins Trofeo Alfredo Binda

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Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) won the women's Trofeo Binda World Cup, ahead of Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) and Alena Amialiusik (Astana Be Pink). Armitstead retained her overall lead in the World Cup.

The Swede won the sprint from an eight-rider group, after the brutal climbing course had reduced the field to only a handful of riders. Former world champion Giorgia Bronzini led the chasers over the line some 50 seconds later.

A Climbing Course

The second round of the UCI Women's World cup is arguably the toughest race of the season, as the women take on 123.7 kilometers on the eastern side of Lake Maggiore in north Italy, featuring four climbs along the way.

It started out with a 17.6km long circuit which brought them back over the finish line for the first time, before taking off on a 37.7km course, which included the first climb. From there the field had to face four laps of 17.1km circuit course, each of which include the Orsino climb. The weather couldn't have been more different from last year's cold conditions, as the riders faced 19°C with virtually no wind.

The bunch stayed together over the first circuit, crossing the finish line together. There were two intermediate sprints shortly thereafter, with Anna Stricker (Astana Be Pink) taking the first one ahead of Malgorzata Jasinska (Ale Cippolini) and Chloe McConville (Australian National Team) in the first one, and Carmen Small (Specialized Lululemon) before Mia Radotic (BTC City Lubljana) and Elin Van Dijk (Boels Dolmans) at the next one.

The climb on this circuit was the Cunardo, the only one in the race which counted for UCI Queen of the Mountains point. It was tough enough to start dropping women off the back of the field. Alena Amialiusik (Astana Be Pink) was the first over the top and took the Queen of the Mountains title. She was followed over the top by Ashleigh Moolman (Hitec Products) and Anna Van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Women).

The course was especially suited to Specialized Lululemon's Trixi Worrack, and the German took off on a solo escape, but she was not allowed to get away and was caught with 43km to go. By then there was a lead peloton of only 69 riders.

That was the cue for the first break group of the day: Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans), Lucinda Brand (Rabo Liv Women), Amanda Spratt (Orica-AIS), Lisa Brennauer (Specialized Lululemon), Mayuko Hagiwara (Wiggle Honda) and Valentina Carretta (Ale Cipollini) slowly built up a lead and took 43 seconds with them on the first climb up the Orino in the closing laps. But they too were unable to stay away and were caught again with 51km to go.

With 45km to go and the Orino climb looming again, the peloton was all together with only some chasers taken out of the race on the short closing circuit course.

Guarnier moved into the lead alone after the climb but still faced two more laps, or 34.2km. She was soon joined by Chantal Blaak (Specialized Lululemon) and Lucinda Brand (Rabo Liv Women). They too were caught, and on the penultimate climb up the Orino, the peloton split again. A group of nine formed as they headed into the final lap of the circuit – but it soon all came back together and only 29 riders went into that final lap.

Johansson was the first to the top of the final climb and sparked the big-name group that would go on to fight for victory. She had the speed to match her climbing ability and won the most prestigious one-day race in women's cycling.

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