Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Laura Trott took fourth place in the prologue time trial of the Festival Luxembourgeois du Cyclisme Féminin Elsy Jacobs in the pouring rain of Mamer, Luxembourg. The double Olympic champion, who celebrated her 21st birthday just two days before, completed the 1.8km course in a time of two minutes and 33 seconds, at an average speed of 42.353kph, to finish just four seconds outside the time of winner Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant).
With heavy rain falling throughout the day, and the risk of crashing high, many riders chose to take on the tight, urban circuit on their regular road bikes. Trott chose to ride her Colnago K.Zero time trial machine, however, and – setting off ninth rider from last – rode into provisional third place behind van Vleuten and Annette Edmondson (Orica-AIS). Only Olympic and World road champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant), as the last rider to start, was able to deny Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling a place on the podium.
“The rain got quite heavy actually, so no one got it easy, but that was definitely a good ride,” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “It was good; that’s her speciality – her and Dani King – the track is probably a little bit more controlled, but it’s definitely their speciality for sure.”
“It was around a small town,” he added. “Very good road surfaces, actually. Generally the roads here are very good; there’s quite a bit of money here!”
The two remaining stages of the Elsy Jacobs consist of long countryside loops followed by five laps each of hilly urban finishing circuits.
“We’ll see what tomorrow throws at us,” Cope concluded. “Hopefully she’ll be in the front group tomorrow and we’ll get a shot at taking that jersey.”
Result
1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
2. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
3. Annette Edmondson (Orica-AIS)
4. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
23. Dani King
28. Lauren Kitchen
50. Giorgia Bronzini
65. Mayuko Hagiwara
74. Rochelle Gilmore
