Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Emily Collins finished in seventh place in the opening prologue time trial of the Giro della Toscana, on the streets of Campi Bisenzio. The New Zealander completed the 2.22km out and back course in a time of three minutes 0.48 seconds, which was just seven seconds slower than the winning time set by World and Olympic champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant).
Vos’ teammate Annemiek van Vleuten finished in second place, with Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top) third.
“I’m very happy with that. I’m still finding my feet with time trialling, but it’s just getting better and better as we go through the season. I’ve just come off a virus a few weeks ago, so I struggled a bit in France last week, but with a few days rest I’ve come round and I was really happy with seventh place.”
Collins was one of the earlier starters, and was in provisional third place behind van Vleuten and Olds for some time, before being pushed down the rankings a little by some of the later starters.
“It’s pretty crazy and unreal starting in the dark,” Collins said. “We were supposed to start at 7:30, but the first rider ended up starting at eight, so we were all hovering around ready to start. It’s been a long night but we all got out there in the dark and did it.
“It was quite exciting though. The girls were all cheering me on, and cheering each other on.”
Far from a pure time triallist’s course, the short 2.22km circuit relied more on power, and especially the ability to handle the u-turns at either end of the course.
“The course was kind of a hot dog shape with a roundabout on each end,” Collins explained, “so I think a lot of girls will have gained and lost on those roundabouts; getting the right speed into those and not having too big a gear.”
The Giro della Toscana will continue tomorrow with a 126km stage between Bottegone and Massa e Cozzile.
Result
1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
2. Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
3. Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top)
7. Emily Collins (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
