Boels Dolmans win Crescent Vargarda Women's WorldTour TTT

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Powerful Dutch team beat Cervelo Bigla and Rabo Liv in Sweden

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Boels Dolmans win Vargarda team time trial(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)

Boels Dolmans Cycling Team won the prestigious Crescent Vargarda Women's WorldTour team time trial held on Friday in Sweden. They covered the 42.5km course in 51:43, beating surprise runner-up team Cervelo Bigla by 36 seconds and last year's winning team Rabo Liv by 1:16.

Cervelo Bigla with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Lotta Lepisto, Joelle Numainville, Stephanie Pohl Lisa Klein and Nicole Hanselmann had the fastest split through the first time check in 19:18, six seconds faster than Boels Dolmans, 32 seconds faster than Rabo Liv and 50 seconds faster than Canyon-SRAM. 

“We arrived last Sunday because this is one of the most important events for us of the year,” Cervelo Bigla manager Thomas Campana said.
“We have a major sponsor in Cervélo who makes the fastest bikes in the world and we have to commit on these high expectations. From Monday morning we trained on the course. Unfortunately, we got the first starting spot of the day so we had to go all or nothing. It was important to put pressure at the first split with a good time and that worked well."

Their blistering opening efforts might have cost them a little in the end as Boels Dolmans with road world champion Lizzie Armitstead, Chantal Blaak, Evelyn Stevens, Karol Ann Canuel, Ellen Van Dijk and Katarzyna Pawlowska came through with the fastest time at the second intermediate check in 37:52. They were ahead of teams Cervelo Bigla, Rabo Liv and Canyon-SRAM, which is the same order of the top-five teams at the finish line.

Third-placed team, Rabo Liv, that won the team time trial last year, fielded gold medallist in the road race and bronze in the time trial in Rio Anna van der Breggen, Shara Gillow, Marianne Vos, Roxane Knetemann, Anouska Koster and Moniek Tenniglo but the team was not strong enough to against the powerful Boels Dolmans or Cervelo Bigla.

Boels Dolmans will no doubt have their goals set on the team time trial world championships in Doha, Qatar in October.

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Boels Dolmans Cycling Team0:51:43
2Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team0:00:37
3Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team0:01:16
4Canyon-Sram0:01:41
5Wiggle High50:01:45
6BTC City Ljubljana0:02:35
7Bepink0:02:40
8Cylance Pro Cycling0:02:57
9Team Liv-Plantur0:03:07
10Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team0:03:22
11Alé Cipollini0:03:29
12Birn Team BMS0:03:58
13Hitec Products0:05:04
14Lensworld-Zannata0:05:59
15Norway0:06:17
16Finland0:09:57
Kirsten Frattini
Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.

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