Team Time TrialnSpecialized-lululemon scored a psychological victory over their nearest rivals on Friday night. In cool, windy, but dry cond...
Team Time TrialnSpecialized-lululemon scored a psychological victory over their nearest rivals on Friday night. In cool, windy, but dry conditions, the 2012 winners in both this World Cup event and the World Championships rode steadily and to their own strategy to win again in Vargarda in 2013. nnReversing the result of the other podium positions in 2012, Rabo Women took second place. They beat Orica-AIS into third place. The Rabo Women squad included Marianne Vos, who is also the leader of the individual World Cup competition. She consequently extended her advantage over Swedish time trial Champion, Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), by 5 points, she leads with a total 77 points more than Johansson's total. nnSpeclialized-lululmeon directeur sportif, Ronny Lauke, explained that the team rode exactly to plan and "without worrying what the others were doing. We did not know one hundred percent how good we are, but we knew that we have done good training and so we were confident about our own abilities. It was difficult to judge the others. We knew that Rabobank have done a lot of work, they were ahead of us at the first time check but we had our strategy and we rode to it. We are really happy about the outcome." nnIn fact, the Specialized-lululemon team made their gains on the section of the course after the turn, the return from Herrljunga, where they gained nearly 30 seconds. They then rode steadily and maintained their lead through Vargarda and around the final part of the course, the road race circuit which will be used on Sunday. nnRoad RacenMarianne Vos (Rabo Women) took a sprint victory in Vargarda from Swedish Champion (and local favourite), Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) and Amy Pieters (Argos Shimano). The win seals the World Cup title overall for the Dutchwoman, she now has an unassailable lead with one round remaining. nnOn a day when the racing was highly competitive throughout, there was no clear indication of who might take the win until the sprint. There were several significant attacks earlier in the race, firstly from Specialized-lululemon's Trixi Worrack, who made a solo attack which lasted about 15 kilometres. Later, notably, Loes Gunnewijk (Orica-AIS) and Roxanne Knetemann (Rabo Women) worked together to gain almost 1 minute 30 seconds on a chasing group. Their attack was undone by an attempt by Cecile Johnsen (Hitec Products UCK) to chase. She got to within 18 seconds of the pair in a desperate attempt to bridge the gap. More importantly, the chasers were able to catch her and then counterattack to bring back the two leaders. nnThe efforts at the front of the race put the main bunch back at over 3 minutes deficit with 35 kilometres left to race. In the closing 25 kilometres, a group of would-be contenders for victory formed, with some of their team-mates dropping back and out of the group, "job done". The wind had been increasing steadily during the afternoon and the final five kilometres of the eleven kilometre lap were particularly exposed to a cross-headwind. That made any final attacks from the group likely to be unsuccessful. A group sprint seemed on the cards. nnThere was a scare for Marianne Vos entering the final lap, however, when she punctured. With no team-car behind, only neutral service, she decided to ride on the softening tyre and wait for her team support. The World Cup leader chased back into the group very quickly and rejoined in time for an unsuccessful attack by Evelyn Stevens (Specialized-lululemon) on the final climb. The group went into the finale together and tactician, Vos, led through the final corner, ahead of Johansson and Pieters. There was no doubt about her sprint and the reigning World, Olympic and now 2013 World Cup Champion had time to raise her arms to celebrate her victory. nn"I was pretty scared about Emma -- she's fast to the line too, so that's why I wanted to take a fast last corner and sprint as hard as I could", explained Vos about the finish of the race, but not before she acknowledged the sportsmanship of her competitors; "I was quite lucky and happy that the others didn't attack me, I have to say thanks for that." Less