World Championships: Team Sunweb win women's team time trial

Team Sunweb took the first title of the 2017 UCI Road World Championships in Bergen with victory in the women's team time trial, beating big rivals and 2016 winners Boels Dolmans by 12 seconds.

The six riders rode a well-paced race, tackling the steep climb after 30km at a careful tempo to avoid blowing apart the team. They went on to finish with four riders, stopping the clock on 55:41 at the end of the 42.5km course. 

Boels Dolmans started last but struggled to match Team Sunweb and finished 12 seconds slower in central Bergen. The Cervelo-Bigla team took the bronze medal, finishing 28 seconds slower.

Canyon-SRAM were fourth at 1:04, with Team Virtu fifth at 2:51. The Danish team lost world time trial champion Amber Neben early in the race after she dropped her chain.

"None of us really expected this - we were going for the podium," said Sunweb's Ellen van Dijk.

"We had a really smooth race. When we finished we just thought it was a great ride and were just happy anyway. So when we saw we were so close to Boels, we couldn’t believe it. And then we beat them - it's still a little surreal.

"It was so important not to overpace it on the climbs, because then you blow up the whole team. That was our strength today, and we used each other's strengths in a really good way. It was incredible to win like that."

How it happened

Team Virtu Cycling Women was the first of the nine teams to start and with former TT world champions in Amber Neber and Linda Linda Villumsen driving the pace. On track for a podium through the early kilometres, the team lost Christina Siggaard after her early pace-setting then also had to do with Neben who suffered a mechanical. Down to the minimum of four riders, the team would eventually finish in fifth place.

Starting 15 minutes after Virtu, Team Sunweb Women rolled out for its race against the clock, executing its pre-race plan to a t. They also lost two riders but with former world champion in the TTT and ITT, Ellen van Dijk, paced the finale to set a new best time, 2:52 faster then Virtu.

Cervelo Bigla was next off after Sunweb, and despite recent advances in the discipline Sunweb were untouchable and they crossed the line 28 seconds in arrears. Canyon-SRAM was the next challenger but could not sustain the high speed needed to compete for a podium and would eventually finish in fourth.

That left just Boels Dolmans between Sunweb and a gold medal but the defending champions would not go down without a fight. Posting the fastest time at the first two time checks, it was a nervous wait for Sunweb but Boels Dolmans ran out of legs in the finale to finish 12 seconds off the gold.

Full Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Team Sunweb0:55:41
Row 1 - Cell 0 Lucinda Brand (Ned)Row 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Leah Kirchmann (Can)Row 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Floortje Mackaij (Ned)Row 3 - Cell 2
Row 4 - Cell 0 Coryn Rivera (USA)Row 4 - Cell 2
Row 5 - Cell 0 Sabrina Stultiens (Ned)Row 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Ellen van Dijk (Ned)Row 6 - Cell 2
2Boels Dolmans Cycling Team0:00:12
Row 8 - Cell 0 Chantal Blaak (Ned)Row 8 - Cell 2
Row 9 - Cell 0 Karl-Ann Canuel (Can)Row 9 - Cell 2
Row 10 - Cell 0 Megan Guarnier (USA)Row 10 - Cell 2
Row 11 - Cell 0 Christine Majerus (Lux)Row 11 - Cell 2
Row 12 - Cell 0 Amy Pieters (Ned)Row 12 - Cell 2
Row 13 - Cell 0 Anna van der Breggen (Ned)Row 13 - Cell 2
3Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team0:00:28
Row 15 - Cell 0 Stephanie Gaumnitz (Ger)Row 15 - Cell 2
Row 16 - Cell 0 Lisa Klein (Ger)Row 16 - Cell 2
Row 17 - Cell 0 Lotta Lepistö (Fin)Row 17 - Cell 2
Row 18 - Cell 0 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA)Row 18 - Cell 2
Row 19 - Cell 0 Clara Koppenburg (Ger)Row 19 - Cell 2
Row 20 - Cell 0 Cecille Uttrup Ludwig (Den)Row 20 - Cell 2
4Canyon-SRAM Racing0:01:05
Row 22 - Cell 0 Hannah Barnes (GBr)Row 22 - Cell 2
Row 23 - Cell 0 Lisa Brennauer (Ger)Row 23 - Cell 2
Row 24 - Cell 0 Elina Cecchini (Ita)Row 24 - Cell 2
Row 25 - Cell 0 Mieke Kroger (Ger)Row 25 - Cell 2
Row 26 - Cell 0 Alexis Ryan (USA)Row 26 - Cell 2
Row 27 - Cell 0 Trixi Worrack (Ger)Row 27 - Cell 2
5Team Virtu Cycling Women0:02:52
Row 29 - Cell 0 Claudia Koster (Ned)Row 29 - Cell 2
Row 30 - Cell 0 Christina Siggaard (Den)Row 30 - Cell 2
Row 31 - Cell 0 Pernille Mathiesen (Den)Row 31 - Cell 2
Row 32 - Cell 0 Amber Neben (USA)Row 32 - Cell 2
Row 33 - Cell 0 Sara Penton (Swe)Row 33 - Cell 2
Row 34 - Cell 0 Linda Villumsen (Den)Row 34 - Cell 2
6FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope0:03:23
Row 36 - Cell 0 Aude Biannic (Fra)Row 36 - Cell 2
Row 37 - Cell 0 Coralie Demay (Fra)Row 37 - Cell 2
Row 38 - Cell 0 Eugenie Duval (Fra)Row 38 - Cell 2
Row 39 - Cell 0 Roxane Fournier (Fra)Row 39 - Cell 2
Row 40 - Cell 0 Shara Gallow (Aus)Row 40 - Cell 2
Row 41 - Cell 0 Roxange Knetemann (Ned)Row 41 - Cell 2
7BTC City Ljubljana0:03:47
Row 43 - Cell 0 Polona Batagelj (Slo)Row 43 - Cell 2
Row 44 - Cell 0 Eugenia Bujak (Pol)Row 44 - Cell 2
Row 45 - Cell 0 Corinna Lechner (Ger)Row 45 - Cell 2
Row 46 - Cell 0 Maaike Boogaard (Ned)Row 46 - Cell 2
Row 47 - Cell 0 Hanna Nilsson (Swe)Row 47 - Cell 2
Row 48 - Cell 0 Ursa Pintar (Slo)Row 48 - Cell 2
8BePink Cogeas0:04:07
Row 50 - Cell 0 Alison Jackson (Can)Row 50 - Cell 2
Row 51 - Cell 0 Francesca Pattaro (Ita)Row 51 - Cell 2
Row 52 - Cell 0 Katia Ragusa (Ned)Row 52 - Cell 2
Row 53 - Cell 0 Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita)Row 53 - Cell 2
Row 54 - Cell 0 Silvia Valsecchi (Ita)Row 54 - Cell 2
Row 55 - Cell 0 Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus)Row 55 - Cell 2
9Hitec Products0:04:59
Row 57 - Cell 0 Charlotte Becker (Ger)Row 57 - Cell 2
Row 58 - Cell 0 Miriam Bjornsrud (Nor)Row 58 - Cell 2
Row 59 - Cell 0 Simona Frapporti (Ita)Row 59 - Cell 2
Row 60 - Cell 0 Cecille Gotaas Johnsen (Nor)Row 60 - Cell 2
Row 61 - Cell 0 Nina Kessler (Ned)Row 61 - Cell 2
Row 62 - Cell 0 Thea Thorsen (Nor)Row 62 - Cell 2

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Latest on Cyclingnews