Thüringen Rundfarht 2007

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Stage 1

Gera - Gera  TTT, 4.2km

Race Writeup

The 20^th running of the Thüringen-Rundfarht got off to an exciting start with a team time trial to test the legs of the 16 teams. The town of Gera came out to watch and had the traditional musical support, barbequed sausages for the spectators to buy and an exhibition of marshal arts.

The course, seemed from the profile a relatively flat one, however the first challenge for the teams was the short but relatively steep climb just before the halfway point. This was a little harder than expected for some of the teams. 

The weather conditions were changeable; strong winds, cold and threatening rain for the day, all a stark comparison to the 30+ temperatures in 2006. The rain stayed away until just before the last team, Getränke Hoffmann was due to race. Thankfully though it was a light shower only and did not affect their ride.

Raleigh Lifeforce Creation HB Pro Cycling team took the opening prologue, going off second-to-last, they knew before they set off that Team Bigla were the team to beat. Bigla went off ninth of the sixteen starters and held the lead until the Raleigh squad, with two time trial specialists (Karin Thürig and Christiane Soeder) faced the timekeeper. The team were missing team leader and 2006 race winner, Nicole Cooke, therefore Emma Rickards wears race number 1 in the 2007 event  Cooke’s absence did not affect the team’s performance however, they powered through the 4.2km course in a winning time of 6 minutes 4.93 seconds ahead of Bigla Cycling, 6 minutes 9.753 seconds and T-Mobile in a time of 6 minutes 10.75 seconds just ahead of Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung 6 minutes 11.823 seconds.

Priska Doppmann was first across the line for Raleigh Lifeforce Creation and was presented with the overall leader’s jersey.  

A very surprised Kate Bates (T-Mobile) was presented with the Mountains Jersey as the fastest up the climb. Andrea Graus, Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung was presented with the Most Aggressive Rider on the stage jersey.

Post Race Comments

Priska Doppmann (Raleigh Lifeforce Creation HB Pro Cycling team), wearing the leaders jersey was happy to chat after the ride. “We were a little nervous today; it is always special to do a team time trial. When we saw the circuit we though that it would be impossible for a true team time trial but we decided to go as if it were an individual prologue and it worked, it was perfect.”

Oenone Wood (T-Mobile) reflected on the first stage, “I felt a lot better today than I did at the prologue in the Giro (Giro D'Italia Femminile). Asked if the small climb caused any problems, Wood added, “I don’t think we timed it perfectly at the start and we had to work hard to bring it back.”

Kate Bates (T-Mobile) was awarded, with some surprise the mountains Jersey. “That was tough today, chasing Judith (Arndt) and Oenone (Wood) up the climb was hard, although they had to chase me down the hill. It is an interesting way to start one of the bigger tours. This is probably the first and last time you will see me in a mountains jersey, it’s a first for me.”