Ellen van Dijk sets pace for Trek-Segafredo in winning effort at TTT to Vargarda(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Trek-Segafredo riders on the podium after winning TTT (L to R): Ellen van Dijk, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Shirin Van Anrooij, Amalie Dideriksen, Chloe Hosking and Lauretta Hanson(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Trek-Segafredo during 35.6km TTT (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Shirin Van Anrooij rides in front of and Chloe Hosking for Trek-Segafredo(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Ellen van Dijk rides at front of Trek-Segafredo effort to best time in TTT(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
A general view of Elena Cecchini, Christine Majerus, Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, Blanka Vas Kata and Demi Vollering of Team SD Worx in TTT(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Team SD Worx riders en route to second place finish in Women's WorldTour race(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Lorena Wiebes sets pace of Team DSM during third place finish in TTT(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Stine Andersen Borgli, Eugnie Duval, Emilia Fahlin, Malle Grossetete, Vittoria Guazzini and Jade Wiel in TTT for FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope and fifth place finish(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Romy Kasper rides at front of Jumbo-Visma Team during TTT and fourth place finish(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Jumbo-Visma riders pass countryside of West Sweden in TTT(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Demi Vollering of Team SD Worx on stage with teammates celebrating the second place on TTT(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Shirin Van Anrooij of Trek-Segafredo celebrates winning the Blue UCI Best Young Jersey (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Trek-Segafredo used their combined power and experience to win the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden TTT, setting a time of 44:56 for the flat and fast 35.6km course. Hour Record holder Ellen van Dijk was again the driving force in the six-rider team, ensuring Trek-Segafredo were the only team to go below the 45-minute mark.
SD Worx finished second with a time of 45:34 despite half of their team briefly taking the wrong direction at a junction. Team DSM were third in a time of 45:45 and Jumbo-Visma finished fourth in a time of 46:11.
The windy conditions made for a testing race on the exposed and occasionally testing roads of southern Sweden. The teams faced a head wind on the way out, a tail wind on the way back and sections of cross winds.
Lauretta Hanson suffered a puncture early on and then Chloe Hosking lost contact before the halfway point but Trek-Segafredo made sure they had four riders at the finish to stop the clock and to keep their speed above 47 kph.
Van Dijk stood out in the Trek-Segafredo line on her white world champion’s bike. She did longer turns than her teammates, keeping the pace at a winning speed and allowing her teammates to recover before their own turns on the front. Van Dijk, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Amalie Dideriksen finished together.
“It was a tough start with the tailwind on the way out,” Dideriksen explained.
“Unfortunately Lauretta got a puncture quite early, so we were down to five, then before the half-way point we lost Chloe, so we were down to four. But we kept the rhythm and tried to keep the speed high and we succeeded.
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“We heard we were in front after the first time check that gave us extra motivation. We were just ahead until the finish. It’s a super tough course with a lot of wind and so not a lot has to go wrong before you blow-up. We just tried to keep it smooth.”
Dideriksen was a late call-up to the Trek-Segafredo team after Elisa Longo Borghini fell sick.
She will now race the 125km Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden road race on Sunday and then the new six-stage Tour of Scandinavia WorldTour race which begins on Tuesday in Copenhagen.
How it unfolded
Parkhotel Valkenberg were the first team to start the 35.6km team time trial and set the initial fastest time of 47:22.
Jumbo-Visma finished strong to beat them with 46:11, while Canyon-SRAM were slower in 46:58 after Alena Amialiusik was forced to race on her road bike after her time trial bike was lost while travelling.
Team DSM started three minutes after Canyon-SRAM and bettered their time by more than a minute to take over the hot seat with the provisional fastest time of 45:45.
Soon after Trek-Segafredo stopped the clock in 44:56, setting a near impossible task for the last team off SD Worx.
SD Worx gave it everything to try to close the gap in the second half of the ride. However Demi Vollering made the mistake of following a race motorbike in the final kilometres and that cost them precious seconds.
The riders avoided a crash or major delay but it left them 38 seconds slower than Trek-Segafredo who took the top step on the podium.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
