Van Vleuten wins La Course pursuit

Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) easily won stage 2 of La Course, taking the pursuit stage by 1:40 over Lizzie Deignan (Boels Dolmans) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5). She covered the 22.5km around Marseille in a time of 32:52. Deignan took a narrow second place after ahead of Longo Borghini, finishing 1:52 down on the winner and only one second ahead of the Italian.

Van Vleuten won the first stage – and official La Course event according to UCI rankings – up the Izoard on Thursday, which set her up to take off as first in this pursuit format stage. The top 19 women from the first stage took off in order of their finish on Izoard, with Van Vleuten thus starting 43 seconds before Deignan.

The format, different from the usual individual time trial, allowed riders to wait for teammates or form alliances. Deignan waited for her teammate Megan Guarnier and, in turn, formed an alliance with Longo Borghini. The wait only increased Van Vleuten’s lead, giving her a comfortable gap on the Marseille roads.

Guarnier was dropped on the day’s climb as Longo Borghini pushed on, taking Deignan with her. They brought Van Vleuten back a few seconds but the Dutchwoman never showed signs of weakness and in the end built her 43 seconds lead into nearly two minutes.

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Orica Scott Women0:32:52
2Elizabeth Deignan (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam0:01:52
3Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle High5Row 2 - Cell 2
4Megan Guarnier (USA) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam0:03:00
5Amanda Spratt (Aus) Orica Scott Women0:03:26
6Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope0:03:48
7Lauren Stephens (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank0:03:53
8Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) WM3 Pro Cycling0:04:35
9Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (RSA) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling TeamRow 8 - Cell 2
10Ana Christina Sanabria Sanchez (Col) Servetto Giusta0:04:46
11Hanna Nilson (Swe) BTC City LjubljanaRow 10 - Cell 2
12Sabrina Stultiens (Ned) Team Sunweb Women0:05:09
13Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) Canyon SRAM RacingRow 12 - Cell 2
14Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling TeamRow 13 - Cell 2
15Eri Yonamine (Jpn) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope0:05:11
16Janneke Ensing (Ned) Alé Cipollini0:05:13
17Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Sunweb Women0:05:44
18Karol-Ann Canuel (Can) Boels Dolmans CyclingteamRow 17 - Cell 2
19Ursa Pintar (Slo) BTC City LjubljanaRow 18 - Cell 2

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