Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Lauren Kitchen finished a fine fifth place in the Rabobank 7-Dorpenomloop van Aalburg in the North Brabant province of the Netherlands. The Australian managed to get into a seven-rider selection of big names that formed in the closing laps of the 121.2km race – which was made up of three 28.5km loops, followed by three 11.5km circuits – and only just missed out on the podium places in the sprint for the line.
Kitchen also won the race’s first two intermediate sprints as the peloton crossed the finish line at the end of the first and second long loops, with Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Dani King taking second place at the first.
World champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) won the race, which took place in her home town, with her teammate Liesbet De Vocht in second, and Swedish champion Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) third.
“A good day today,” was Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope’s verdict. “A good day.
“There was a big crash early on, where a few big hitters got caught out,” he explained. “They came back, and a selection was always going to happen; it was always going to split.”
“Some Rabobank riders went away, and then Emily Collins got on the front and was chasing them,” said Cope. “Then Dani put in a little attack; she got pulled back and then Lauren went over the top, taking Vos and Amy Pieters [Argos-Shimano] with her, so it made seven in the front.
“I told Lauren to just keep the others happy but don’t do too much work,” Cope added. “It’s also easier to roll through on course like that, than trying to sit on the back. Into the last lap Johansson attacked, and De Vocht went with her, but Rabobank wasn’t happy with that and made Roxane Knetemann chase, and she caught them with about 500 metres to go.
“It was a good performance by Lauren today, and all the others rode well as well,” Cope concluded. “It was a good team performance today.”
