Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini finished in tenth place in the Open de Suéde Vårgårda World Cup race after being part of the race’s key ten-rider move. With the help of teammate Linda Villumsen, the former two-time World champion made the decisive split in the closing laps of the 132km race, but was just unable to follow the late accelerations of the big favourites on the 11km circuit’s main climb.
The race was won by World champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/GIant), ahead of Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) and Amy Pieters (Argos-Shimano) after the three of them escaped the others with Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) on the final lap.
“It was a really hard hard race from the beginning,” Bronzini explained. “Linda helped me to get across to the front group, and I managed to catch the group of big riders. It was good that I could do that, but I used so much power to do it, and in the final when Vos attacked I had cramp in my legs.
“The others had a teammate in the group, but because I was alone I had to ride on the front, so that cost me a lot of power also. When Vos attacked it was impossible for me to follow, but I tried to chase with the other Italian girl in the group, Rossella Ratto [Hitec Products]. And we stayed at 20 or 15 seconds. Roxane Knetemann [Rabobank-Liv/Giant] and Loes Gunnewijk [Orica-AIS] were in our wheel, and they attacked us with one-k to go in the last lap, and for me it was too much.”
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Olympic champion Dani King got herself into the first real break of the day, and was joined soon afterwards by teammate Linda Villumsen when another group bridged across. Despite looking like it may have been the winning move of the race, the large group was reabsorbed by the peloton, only for another to form shortly afterwards.
“It was a brilliant race for Dani,” said Bronzini. “She hasn’t raced on the road that often so I was surprised to have her in such good shape today.
“I was happy for my race,” Bronzini added. “It was so hard from the beginning and I was pleased that I could stay with the little bunch with the climbers and the top riders.”
Having worked hard all day, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Lauren Kitchen sprinted to 12th place as the first big group arrived at the finish, with King taking 14th just behind her in a best-ever placing in a race of this size.
Bronzini scored eleven points towards the World Cup, however, and now sits ninth overall in the season-long competition, while points earned by Kitchen and King saw Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling rise to seventh in the team classification.
Result
1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
2. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)
3. Amy Pieters (Argos-Shimano)
10. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
12. Lauren Kitchen (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
14. Dani King (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
