Thüringen Ladies Tour: SD Worx fastest in opening team time trial

SD Worx opened the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour with a victory in the stage 1 team time trial in Schleiz. The powerful Dutch team beat runner-up squad Team Jayco AlUla by 10 seconds and third-placed Canyon-SRAM by 21 seconds.

SD Worx covered the flat, 9.1km course in a winning time of 13:05, with Lotte Kopecky crossing the line first, and so taking the first leader's jersey of the six-day event. Kopecky was joined by teammates Mischa Bredewold, Barbara Guarishi, Lorena Wiebes and Lonneke Uneken.

Kopecky will wear the leader's jersey into stage 2's 153km road race in Gera on Wednesday.

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"I really wanted to come to Thuringen. We are in a good flow as a team and will now see what is possible for us in the general classification this week,” Kopecky said.

Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, seeking a place on the Women's WorldTour next season, is one of the long-standing stage races on the women's calendar.

The opening stage was a team time trial, one of the few offered this season, on a flat track to and from Schleiz. The women competed in a team time trial at the revamped La Vuelta Femenina earlier in May, with SD Worx finishing fifth behind winning team Jumbo-Visma, and then Canyon-SRAM, Trek-Segafredo and Movistar.

At the Thüringen Ladies Tour, 17 teams lined up to kick off the six-day event, with One World Team Women setting the first time of the day at 14:58. 

Faster times bumped the German team out of the hot seat, with the German National Team the first to break through 13 minutes. The team finished ninth on the day with powerful riders, which include Mieke Kröger and Hannah Ludwig.

Their time didn't last long as UAE Team Emirates, Parkhotel Valkenburg, and Arkéa-Samsic all posted faster times at the 39 kph average speeds. 

AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep crossed the line with an average speed of 40 kph in fifth place, despite a crash from Romy Kasper. Also, averaging more than 40 kph were Fenix-Deceuninck, which finished fourth on the day.

The top three fastest teams, SD Worx and Team Jayco-AlUla, both averaged more than 41 kph, with times 13:05 and 13:15, respectively and then Canyon-SRAM with the third fastest time of 13:26.

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