Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling endured a hard day in la Flèche Wallonne, the fourth round of the women’s World Cup, with Olympic champion Joanna Rowsell the team’s best finisher, in 46th place, after she was just unable to hold on to the fierce pace being set on the final few climbs of the race.
With Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier the only rider on the team to have experienced what is arguably the hardest women’s one-day race, and with double Olympic champion Laura Trott making her debut in the World Cup, it was to be a day of survival for the young riders of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling.
“Dani King was sick last night so we lost her early,” explained Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “For the others it was a real baptism of fire s none of them had ridden this race before.
“Flèche Wallonne has to be one of the hardest races in the women’s calendar,” he added. “So just to get round is an achievement for a lot of riders.”
World champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) won the race, taking her fifth victory in, as she won the sprint up the Mur de Huy to the finish. Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products) just managed to beat South African champion Ashleigh Moolman (Lotto-Belisol) to the line to take second place.
The race was run at its fastest predicted pace, with a number of teams attacking on the numerous climbs in an attempt to put pressure on Vos. Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling was well represented towards the front of the peloton the first time up the Mur, but the tough course steadily took its toll and the team’s young riders found themselves unable to match the pace set by the race favourites.
