Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini sprinted to third place in the GP Elsy Jacobs, the first stage of the Festival Luxembourgeois du Cyclisme Féminin, in Garnich, Luxembourg, as she was narrowly beaten in the race for second place. The former two-time World road champion was just pipped on the line by Shelley Olds (Alé-Cipollini) after Anna van der Breggen (Rabobank-Liv) had escaped for a solo victory.
“In the beginning, this morning, I was feeling a little bit sick, because I have a little bit of a cold and a pain in my throat,’ Bronzini said afterwards. “I said to the team that I didn’t know if I was feeling good, that I had a little fever, so they should not put the pressure on me and they should try to get in the breaks.
“In the middle of the race I felt a little bit better, in my legs,” the Italian explained. “There was a little break away, with none of us in it, and so Mayuko [Hagiwara], Peta [Mullens] and I pulled the group to catch it. In the end Linda [Villumsen], Peta and Lotte [Becker] gave me a hand to stay in the wheels when the others attacked in the small lap.”
Despite several attempted breakaways the peloton was all together at the end of the long 54km loop but, with two of the five 9.8km smaller laps remaining, van der Breggen escaped and managed to build up a one minute eleven second lead by the time she hit the finish line.
“There was a little break again, with two laps to go, and van der Breggen was gone,” Bronzini explained. “When we caught the other girls we tried to stay in the wheels and work for my sprint.
“I started my sprint with 200 metres to go, and was in a photo finish with Shelley Olds. I had to go at 200 metres because the girls from Rabobank in front of me were going a little bit slowly, and it was a little bit late. I would have preferred to go a little bit earlier and try to hold on.
“Lotte did some amazing work for me today, because there was a really strong wind out there and she covered me from the crosswind all the way,” said Bronzini. “Then she put me on the wheels of Linda and Peta in the last kilometres.”
Tomorrow’s second and final stage is likely to end in a bunch sprint, as usual, but the potential for late crashes mean that the former World Champion will try to avoid taking risks.
“I don’t know what the tactics of the other teams will be, but we will try to get into the breaks,” Bronzini said. “If it’s going to be a sprint I will put the team to work for me for sure. The last corner is a little bit dangerous, so I will be a little bit careful because we have a lot of races after this one.
“I won’t take a risk, but if there’s going to be a sprint we will try to be the first team into that corner,” she added.
Result
1. Anna van der Breggen (Rabobank-Liv)
2. Shelley Olds (Alé-Cipollini)
3. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
