Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott ended the day in the best young rider jersey after a chaotic first stage of the Energiewacht Tour in the north eastern Netherlands. The 20-year-old was one of three Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders to make it into the 22-rider lead group as the peloton split in the crosswinds that always characterise the Dutch stage race.
Olympic champion Dani King was Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s best finisher in tenth place, with Australian Lauren Kitchen in 13th place, and Trott 17th.
“It was a good ride by all of them to make that selection,” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “They were making the selections all day.”
As well as the strong Dutch winds causing chaos in the peloton, the race had to be stopped four times as the riders were first sent off course, and then came across a closed railway junction and an open bridge as the race went outside its scheduled time.
Each time the 22 rider were allowed to restart first, with the rest of the peloton held back until it they had opened up their original lead.
“They’ve obviously looked at timings for the trains, and bridges and things, and once you go outside the fastest and slowest average speeds they put down the whole race gets screwed up,” Cope conceded. “So there’s no point trying to point the finger or anything, it’s just what it is.
“To get three riders in that group was good,” he added. “It would have been slightly different without the mishaps; I think Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier’s group would have definitely got back on to that group.”
As the only under-23 rider to have made the selection, Trott has a comfortable lead over the next riders in the classification.
“Laura was the lone young rider in the group,” Cope confirmed. “She’s got a lead of one minute and one second.”
Dutch sprinter Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) took the stage as she broke away in the closing kilometres with three compatriots. Wild beat Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) in the sprint for the line, with Iris Slappendel (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) taking third. The group containing Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s King, Kitchen and Trott finished just ten seconds behind the winner, keeping all three riders in overall contention.
Result
1. Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano)
2. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon)
3. Iris Slappendel (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
10. Dani King
13. Lauren Kitchen
17. Laura Trott
27. Ana-Bianca Schnitzmeier
58. Rochelle Gilmore
66. Emily Collins