Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini took her second win inside four days as she sprinted to victory in the third stage of the Route de France, between Château du Loir and Vendôme. The former two-time road World Champion, who took a record six consecutive stages in the race last year, outsprinted Belgian Champion Jolien D’Hoore (Lotto-Belisol), American Shelley Olds (Alé-Cipollini) and Dutch powerhouse Kirsten Wild (Giant-Shimano) at the end of the 116.8km race, to add to her third place achieved on stage one.
“It was a great day,” Bronzini said. “It was quiet at the beginning of the stage because there was just one breakaway rider and the bunch left Carlee Taylor of the Australian Team out front because they were able to control the race.
“Some of the other teams tried to be a bit aggressive, but nothing serious and we waited. We waited and waited, because yesterday the girls did a lot of attacks and the other teams just sat on the back and didn’t work, so I told the girls to save some energy for the final laps.”
With Taylor back in the fold, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling began to attack to put pressure on the other sprinters’ teams; a tactic that had proved so successful in Saturday’s RideLondon GrandPrix.
“There were two final laps, with a short climb, and I said to the girls to be aggressive there. When we arrived in the lap, the girls – Mayuko Hagiwara, Linda Villumsen, Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier and Lotte Becker – tried to be aggressive, with Linda and Mayuko doing big attacks.
“In the end there was a bunch sprint and Linda did a really good lead out. I left one spot behind the wheel of Shelley Olds because it was a strange finish. You could see the finish line for so long but you had no sensation about how many metres to go.
“I don’t want to start too early, I prefer to have another sprinter start in front of me and take the pressure on themselves. So when Shelley Olds started to go I got on her wheel, and I came out in the last 150 metres.”
“It was a great job from all the girls today, and I’m really proud of them.”
Following her stage victory, Bronzini remains third overall, just 1’44” behind stage one winner Claudia Lichtenberg (Giant-Shimano), despite having travelled to the race through the night and only arrived at stage one’s start a few hours before it began.
Result
1. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Jolien D’Hoore (Lotto-Belisol)
3. Shelley Olds (Alé-Cipollini)
