Trek-Segafredo claim opening team time trial at Ceratizit Challenge

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A month after winning the Vårgårda TTT, Trek-Segafredo have won the opening team time trial of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.

The US team were the third-last team on the course and covered the 19.9 km in 23:31 minutes, improving on the time of Team BikeExchange-Jayco by 6 seconds, Neither Team SD Worx nor Movistar Team were able to beat this time, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. FDJ SUEZ Futuroscope stopped the clock at 23:42 minutes to take third place.

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) is the first overall leader and will wear the red jersey on stage 2.

“It was a very nice time trial from the whole team, all the girls were really motivated, and so was the staff. Congratulations to everyone at Trek-Segafredo. We were compact from the start, and then there were four of us left, and we did our best,” said Longo Borghini.

How it unfolded

Extended to five stages, the “women’s Vuelta” began with a TTT starting and finishing in Marina de Cudeyo, across the Bay of Santander from the capital of Cantabria, on a clockwise loop that crossed the Ría de Cubas, the estuary of the Rio Miera, before turning inland, back across the river, and north towards the finish.

Local team Rio Miera-Cantabria Deporte were first off the ramp, finishing in 28:28 minutes. Massi Tactic were the first to crack the 26 minutes, finishing in 25:58 minutes. This was improved upon by Human Powered Health and Uno-X Pro Cycling Team, the latter clocking in at 25:14 minutes.

Next to set a best time were Ceratizit-WNT who improved on the Norwegian team’s time by 22 seconds, and their time of 24:52 minutes stood until Team BikeExchange-Jayco blasted through. Having dropped only one rider, the Australian team finished in 23:37 minutes, taking over a minute off the clock.

Team Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team ADQ, Canyon-SRAM, and Team DSM failed to beat this benchmark, all finishing with times well above 24 minutes. The first to come close were FDJ SUEZ Futuroscope who also brought five riders to the finishing straight but struggled up the slight rise to the line, finishing 5 seconds down.

Trek-Segafredo had lost Amalie Dideriksen and Lucinda Brand early on, but Elisa Longo Borghini, Elynor Bäckstedt, Shirin van Anrooij, and Elisa Balsamo finished together to set a new time, six seconds faster than Team BikeExchange-Jayco.

Team SD Worx with Demi Vollering and Movistar Team with Annemiek van Vleuten both finished in less than 24 minutes, but their times of 23:54 minutes and 23:56 minutes, respectively, were not enough to reach the stage podium. Vollering and Van Vleuten now have to make up 23 respectively 25 seconds to red jersey Longo Borghini. Stage 2 is the best opportunity for that as it is the queen stage of the race with five classified climbs.

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