Lorena Wiebes of Team DSM won the opening stage of the Ceratizit Festival Elsy Jacobs on Friday, riding the 2.2km prologue in 3:12. She was three seconds faster than her teammate Leah Kirchmann, who finished second an half a second better than Karlijn Swinkels of Jumbo-Visma Women.
Twenty-one-year-old Lonneke Uneken (SD Worx), who finished five seconds back for fifth place, was recognised as the best young rider.
The late-afternoon prologue offered a short, but challenging course. Just after the start, each of the 108 riders took on a 13 per cent climb followed by a sharp descent and in the final kilometre powered up a gradual climb to the finish line in Cessange.
Not on the start line was young Luxembourg rider Claire Faber (Andy Schleck-CP NVST-Immo Losch), who was struck by a car while training on local roads for the race on Wednesday. She was recovering on Friday from undergoing surgery for multiple fractures.
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Results - prologue top 10
Pos.
Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team DSM
3:12:00
2
Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team DSM
0:00:03
3
Karlijn Swinkels (Ned) Jumbo-Visma Women Team
4
Thalita De Jong (Ned) Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire
0:00:05
5
Lonneke Uneken (Ned) Team SD Worx
6
Anouska Koster (Ned) Jumbo-Visma Women Team
7
Ruth Winder (USA) Trek-Segafredo
0:00:06
8
Christine Majerus (Lux) Team SD Worx
9
Riejanne Markus (Ned) Jumbo-Visma Women Team
0:00:07
10
Anouska Koster (Ned) Jumbo-Visma Women Team
Ceratizit Festival Elsy Jacobs date: April 30 to May 2, 2021
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Finish: Garnich, Luxembourg - 2-4:45 p.m. (CET)
Live streaming: daily start times - Friday5:50 p.m., Saturday 3:20 p.m., and Sunday 2:20 p.m. (CET)
Ceratizit Festival Elsy Jacobs returns in 2021 from April 30 to May 2. After a string of one-day races for the past two months, 18 teams, eight of them WorldTeams, will take on rolling hills across 232 kilometres in the three-day, 2.Pro Series event.
Formerly known as the Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs, this multi-day UCI stage race in Luxembourg began in 2008. The race honours Elsy Jacobs of Garnich, Luxembourg, who earned the first-ever road race world championship for women, which was held in 1958. That same year, the 25-year-old broke the Hour record at a velodrome in Milan, Italy, and held the title for 15 years. In her career she also he won 15 Luxembourg road championship titles.
The race was last contested in 2019, won by Lisa Brennauer for WNT-Rotor. She finished second in the prologue that year, six seconds behind Demi Vollering (then Parkhotel Valkenburg). It was not until the third and final day that Brennauer used the stage 2 victory and bonus seconds to secure the title. Vollering would finish second on GC.
The short, opening time trial on April 30 is 2.2 kilometres long with one punchy ascent near the start that reaches 13 per cent gradient, and is sure to make an impact on the GC standings. Both road stages are comprised of long and short circuits with rolling climbs. A 125.1km route on stage 2 has an uphill finish in the final kilometer with a 4 per cent gradient. Sunday closes with 105.3 kilometres, an opening loop of 61.3km to the north of Garnich followed by five fast, finishing circuits of 8.8km each to finish in Garnich.
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