Specialized - lululemon triumphant in Worlds team time trial

Team Specialized - Lululemon stormed to victory in the inaugural elite women’s team time trial at the world championships in Valkenburg with a well-drilled performance on what proved to be a very testing course.

Billed beforehand as a battle between Specialized-lulemon and Orica-AIS – two teams boasting enviable complements of specialists – the race certainly lived up to expectations, with the Australian outfit coming home in second place, 24 seconds down, while AA-Drink - Leontien.nl was the best of the rest, a distant 1:59 behind in third.

The 34.2km-long course began in Sittard and featured a flat, fast opening, where Specialized-lululemon and Orica-AIS matched one another pedal stroke for pedal stroke. At the first time check after 11km, the Orica-AIS sextet was less than a second behind Specialized-lululemon, but as the roads grew increasingly undulating, so too did lululemon’s greater balance begin to tell.

Evelyn Stevens in particular began to come to the fore and the American set a ferocious tempo up the climb of the Lange Raarberg, a little under two thirds of the way into the race, and it was here that Specialized-lululemon began to stretch out its advantage, coming through the second time check 13 seconds clear of the rivals.

The rolling Limburg course proved to be the ultimate test of the old adage that a team is only as strong as its weakest rider and Specialized-lululemon had done their homework diligently. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg was the squad’s weakest climber on paper, but the experienced German put in a mammoth shift on the front in the early, flat kilometres, ensuring that the team broke more or less even with Orica-AIS.

While Teutenberg would be dropped as the course grew more testing in the finale, her early pace-setting had set the tone for her team’s collective effort, and in Stevens, Trixi Worrack, Ellen Van Dijk, Amber Neben and Charlotte Becker, Specialized-lululemon had more than enough firepower to see them home.

Orica-AIS still put up fierce resistance even though they must have sensed the race was slipping away from them on the rhythm-sapping rises and dips that characterised the kilometres immediately after the Lange Raarberg.

With the team reduced to the minimum four for the finale, the experienced Judith Arndt shouldered responsibility for steadying the ship and ensuring that they remained in contention on the final climb of the Cauberg. Arndt’s careful pace-setting up the climb and over the false flat to the finish saw Orica-AIS cross the line with the provisional best time, 1:35 quicker than Emma Pooley’s AA Drink-Leontien.nl squad.

Specialized-lulemon were the last team down the start ramp, however, and by the time they hit the Cauberg, they knew that they had 20 seconds in hand and could afford to set a steady tempo up the climb. Stevens hit the front up the Cauberg, but was careful to ensure that her four remaining teammates could hold her wheel.

Once over the top, Neben, Worrack, Becker and local favourite Ellen Van Dijk took over for the final push to the line and brought Specialized-lululemon home to claim an historic gold medal.

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Team Specialized - Lululemon0:46:31.60
Row 1 - Cell 0 Charlotte Becker (Ger)Row 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Amber Neben (USA)Row 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Evelyn Stevens (USA)Row 3 - Cell 2
Row 4 - Cell 0 Ina Teutenberg (Ger)Row 4 - Cell 2
Row 5 - Cell 0 Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned)Row 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Trixi Worrack (Ger)Row 6 - Cell 2
2Orica - Ais0:00:24.19
Row 8 - Cell 0 Judith Arndt (Ger)Row 8 - Cell 2
Row 9 - Cell 0 Shara Gillow (Aus)Row 9 - Cell 2
Row 10 - Cell 0 Loes Gunnewijk (Ned)Row 10 - Cell 2
Row 11 - Cell 0 Melissa Hoskins (Aus)Row 11 - Cell 2
Row 12 - Cell 0 Alexis Rhodes (Aus)Row 12 - Cell 2
Row 13 - Cell 0 Linda Melanie Villumsen (NZl)Row 13 - Cell 2
3Aa Drink - Leontien.Nl Cycling Team0:01:59.32
Row 15 - Cell 0 Chantal Blaak (Ned)Row 15 - Cell 2
Row 16 - Cell 0 Lucinda Brand (Ned)Row 16 - Cell 2
Row 17 - Cell 0 Jessie Daams (Bel)Row 17 - Cell 2
Row 18 - Cell 0 Sharon Laws (GBr)Row 18 - Cell 2
Row 19 - Cell 0 Emma Pooley (GBr)Row 19 - Cell 2
Row 20 - Cell 0 Kirsten Wild (Ned)Row 20 - Cell 2
4Rabobank Women Cyclng Team0:02:20.40
Row 22 - Cell 0 Tatiana Antoshina (Rus)Row 22 - Cell 2
Row 23 - Cell 0 Thalita De Jong (Ned)Row 23 - Cell 2
Row 24 - Cell 0 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra)Row 24 - Cell 2
Row 25 - Cell 0 Iris Slappendel (Ned)Row 25 - Cell 2
Row 26 - Cell 0 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned)Row 26 - Cell 2
Row 27 - Cell 0 Marianne Vos (Ned)Row 27 - Cell 2
5Rusvelo0:02:30.58
Row 29 - Cell 0 Natalia Boyarskaya (Rus)Row 29 - Cell 2
Row 30 - Cell 0 Svetlana Bubnenkova (Rus)Row 30 - Cell 2
Row 31 - Cell 0 Romy Kasper (Ger)Row 31 - Cell 2
Row 32 - Cell 0 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger)Row 32 - Cell 2
Row 33 - Cell 0 Irina Molicheva (Rus)Row 33 - Cell 2
Row 34 - Cell 0 Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus)Row 34 - Cell 2
6Be Pink0:03:14.80
Row 36 - Cell 0 Alena Amialiusik (Blr)Row 36 - Cell 2
Row 37 - Cell 0 Noemi Cantele (Ita)Row 37 - Cell 2
Row 38 - Cell 0 Simona Frapporti (Ita)Row 38 - Cell 2
Row 39 - Cell 0 Elke Gebhardt (Ger)Row 39 - Cell 2
Row 40 - Cell 0 Julia Martisova (Rus)Row 40 - Cell 2
Row 41 - Cell 0 Silvia Valsecchi (Ita)Row 41 - Cell 2
7S.C. Michela Fanini Rox0:04:37.26
Row 43 - Cell 0 Alexandra Burchenkova (Rus)Row 43 - Cell 2
Row 44 - Cell 0 Verónica Leal Balderas (Mex)Row 44 - Cell 2
Row 45 - Cell 0 Martina Ruzickova (Cze)Row 45 - Cell 2
Row 46 - Cell 0 Azucena Sanchez Benito (Spa)Row 46 - Cell 2
Row 47 - Cell 0 Valentina Scandolara (Ita)Row 47 - Cell 2
Row 48 - Cell 0 Grete Treier (Est)Row 48 - Cell 2
8Hitec Products - Mistral Home Cycling Team0:04:38.04
Row 50 - Cell 0 Tone Hatteland Lima (Nor)Row 50 - Cell 2
Row 51 - Cell 0 Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen (Nor)Row 51 - Cell 2
Row 52 - Cell 0 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita)Row 52 - Cell 2
Row 53 - Cell 0 Emilie Moberg (Nor)Row 53 - Cell 2
Row 54 - Cell 0 Lise Nöstvold (Nor)Row 54 - Cell 2
Row 55 - Cell 0 Thea Thorsen (Nor)Row 55 - Cell 2
9Dolmans - Boels Cyclingteam0:05:00.17
Row 57 - Cell 0 Martine Bras (Ned)Row 57 - Cell 2
Row 58 - Cell 0 Janneke Ensing (Ned)Row 58 - Cell 2
Row 59 - Cell 0 Nina Kessler (Ned)Row 59 - Cell 2
Row 60 - Cell 0 Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned)Row 60 - Cell 2
Row 61 - Cell 0 Winanda Spoor (Ned)Row 61 - Cell 2
Row 62 - Cell 0 Emma Trott (GBr)Row 62 - Cell 2
10Lotto Belisol Ladies0:05:31.99
Row 64 - Cell 0 Robyn De Groot (RSA)Row 64 - Cell 2
Row 65 - Cell 0 Sofie De Vuyst (Bel)Row 65 - Cell 2
Row 66 - Cell 0 Ann-Sofie Duyck (Bel)Row 66 - Cell 2
Row 67 - Cell 0 Kaat Hannes (Bel)Row 67 - Cell 2
Row 68 - Cell 0 Ludivine Henrion (Bel)Row 68 - Cell 2
Row 69 - Cell 0 Kim Schoonbaert (Bel)Row 69 - Cell 2
11Skil 1T4I0:05:33.31
Row 71 - Cell 0 Suzanne De Goede (Ned)Row 71 - Cell 2
Row 72 - Cell 0 Kelly Markus (Ned)Row 72 - Cell 2
Row 73 - Cell 0 Amy Pieters (Ned)Row 73 - Cell 2
Row 74 - Cell 0 Esra Tromp (Ned)Row 74 - Cell 2
Row 75 - Cell 0 Monique Van De Ree (Ned)Row 75 - Cell 2
Row 76 - Cell 0 Adrie Visser (Ned)Row 76 - Cell 2
12Sengers Ladies Cycling Team0:05:45.91
Row 78 - Cell 0 Kimberly Buyl (Bel)Row 78 - Cell 2
Row 79 - Cell 0 Vera Koedooder (Ned)Row 79 - Cell 2
Row 80 - Cell 0 Claudia Koster (Ned)Row 80 - Cell 2
Row 81 - Cell 0 Birgit Lavrijssen (Ned)Row 81 - Cell 2
Row 82 - Cell 0 Inge Roggeman (Bel)Row 82 - Cell 2
Row 83 - Cell 0 Geerike Schreurs (Ned)Row 83 - Cell 2

 

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