Emma Johansson won Cholet Pays de Loire on Sunday to secure back-to-back victories in the French one day race riding for the Swedish National Team. The win is Johansson's third in Cholet, making her the first women to attain the hat trick.
"It's never easy to come back as a favourite," said Johansson. "Everyone is looking to you, so it's harder to win. It's really nice to come back and repeat. I'm pleased with the way the race unfolded. It played the way we wanted. It was a good day for the team."
"It was really good to race with the Swedish National Team. We don't have many chances to race together during the year. It's become somewhat of a tradition to race together here, and I like that."Johansson made her way into an 11 rider breakaway that formed on the last of four hilly circuit laps.
Sara Mustonen managed to also make her way into the break to join her teammate. "We had two in the group, and both of us felt quite good," said Johansson. "I was stronger in the hills, and I knew I had to cover everything to make a good attempt to win again."
Inside the final 10km, Johansson and Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products) jumped away from the front group to build a small advantage over their former break companions and the nine riders caught them on the line but could not stop Johansson from claiming the win.
"Elisa and I got away together on the last hill," Johansson explained. "We just managed to stay away. I won and Elisa ended up third. Jolien d'Hoore (Lotto Belisol) was second from the chase group –that's how close they were to us in the end."
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