Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini continued her domination of the sprints of the Route de France, as she made it three out of three in the third stage, between Anet and Mamers, making it ten victories for the season so far. The former two-time World champion was by far the fastest once again on the uphill finishing straight, crossing the line more than a bike length clear of race leader Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) and British champion Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans).
“I said to you yesterday that there was a secret, and now you know!” Bronzini joked. “I’m so happy. I’m proud of the girls, and the work that they did.
“Today was a quiet race until 25km to go,” she explained. “Into the final there was a little bit of a climb into the small lap, and someone attacked into the last two laps, and the rest of the group was chasing. In the last K I was with Linda Villumsen, and Linda pulled me into the sprint, and at 150 to go; the finish line was at the top of the climb, which is my perfect sprint
“So I jumped off the wheel of Linda – and of Emma Johansson [Orica-AIS] too, because she was next to Linda – and it was a good sprint.”
The 123.6km stage saw a lone attack from French rider Sandrine Bideau (Vienne-Futuroscope), who managed to get more than two and a half minutes clear before being pulled back just after the halfway point. There were some attacks on the two laps of the 4.2km finishing circuit, but nobody was able to escape and Bronzini was able to sprint to her third victory of the race.
With few opportunities on the predominantly flat stage, Villumsen was unable to take any time out of race leader Johansson and so still sits in second place overall, just one second behind the former Swedish champion.
It was not all good news for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling, however, as Charlotte Becker was forced to abandon the race after being brought down in a mid-stage crash.
“We hope that Lotte can recover fast, and she can be back soon,” said Bronzini. “But we are still five, and we will try to do something for Linda in the coming days so that she can take the jersey.”
Result
1. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
2. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)
3. Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans)
Photo credit: Laurent Duflot
