Trek-Segafredo won the 35.6km Postnord Vargarda WestSweden TTT, using their combined strength in tough weather conditions to beat world champions Canyon-SRAM by 25 seconds. Team Sunweb finished third at 25 seconds, with Boels-Dolmans - the winner for the past three years, fourth at 1:17.
The flat roads and gusting winds made for a hard race, with bike skills and smooth time trial skills making a significant difference.
Team Sunweb set the benchmark time of 44:39 minutes, one-minute quicker than their closest early rivals, with only Canyon-SRAM and Trek-Segafredo who were able to beat them.
On Sunday the same riders will tackle the 145km road race, which this year includes eight gravel sections.
Overview
The late-summer one-day races on the Women's WorldTour continues at the 2019 Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden TTT, inviting the best teams in the world to participate in a race against the clock in Vargarda, Sweden on August 17.
The course is 36km, six kilometres shorter than last year, that starts and finishes in Vargarda with a turn-around point in Herrljunga. There will be two intermediate split check points; the first in Herrljunga at 16km and the second in Vargarda at 32km.
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The course is undulating and the last kilometre is uphill to the finish line in Vargarda.
Last year's 2018 edition of Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden TTT was won by Boels Dolmans. The team had continued their run of success in the team time trial, winning it for a the third year in a row. Team Sunweb finished in second place and Cervélo-Bigla finished third.
Scandinavian race organisers have unveiled a new ten-stage event that they believe will be the hardest race on the women’s calendar. The new race will be known as the Battle of the North and will make its debut in 2021.
The race is the combined efforts of the organisers of the Ladies Tour of Norway and the PostNord Vårgårda WestSweden, along with the Danish Cycling Federation. The new event will replace the Norwegian and Swedish races, which come back-to-back in August on the current WorldTour calendar, and it will be ridden over 10 stages and 11 days.
