Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s double Olympic champion Laura Trott sprinted into tenth place in the fifth stage of the Trophée d’Or, in Baugy, central France, as the peloton arrived at the finish 48 seconds behind a breakaway group of seven. The 21-year-old, riding her first fill-length stage race in more than four months, was beaten to the line only by World champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/Giant), and fellow track specialist Leire Olaberria (Bizkaia-Durango) at the end of the aggressive 101.5km stage.
“A top ten is okay,” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling directeur sportif Simon Cope. “Laura has been doing a lot of track work recently, and not ridden much on the road. There’s no shame in being beaten by Vos in a sprint like that.
“Rabobank put two riders in the break, and it got 48 seconds in the end.”
Australia’s Amy Cure won the stage, as the breakaway sprinted for the line, in a close finish over Megan Guarnier (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) and Anastasiya Chulkova (RusVelo).
“Mayuko Hagiwara got in the break, and was away, but there were two or three attacks within the break and she was dropped,” Cope explained. “That meant that we had nobody in the break and that put us on the back foot. It was just one of those days really.”
“We’ll have to see how tomorrow plays out,” Cope added. “It should be quite a hard stage. Giorgia Bronzini is fired up, so she could do something.”
Result
1. Amy Cure (Australia)
2. Megan Guarnier (Rabobank-Liv/Giant)
3. Anastasiya Chulkova (RusVelo)
10. Laura Trott (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
