Thüringen Rundfarht 2007

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A group of 13 riders attacked and created a big gap on the peloton in the forth stage round Schleiz. From this group, 3 riders emerged, having attacked at the 72.8km point at the top of the category 1 mountain. This group included Judith Arndt (T-Mobile), Noemi Cantele (Bigla Cycling Team) and Amber Neben (Team Flexpoint). The three worked well together and secured a massive lead on the main peloton. They stayed away to secure the top 3 places on general classification.

It was expected to be a very exciting race due to the time gained by Emma Pooley (Team Specialized) on stage 3. Pooley held a 4 minute 22 second advantage over Oenone Wood (T-Mobile) as the race rolled out.  

Within the first 3km the attacks started with Eneritz Iturriagaechevarria (Menikini Selle Italia Gysko) trying to get away. This attack was closed down by the top teams in the peloton, they were about to approach the first of the big mountain climbs. Emma Pooley (Team Specialized for Women) secured the top points as she crossed the line first ahead of Trixi Worrack (Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung) and Arndt. 

The peloton rolled quickly over the opening kilometres and at 10.7km Larissa Kleinmann (German National Team) managed to get a small gap but was closed down by the Bigla team.   

At the next mountain competition point the attacks started again, this time Worrack, Arndt and Angela Brodtka (Team Getränke Hoffmann) managed to gain a 25 seconds lead, but this was closed down quickly by Emma Pooley as they reach the top of the climb.  The extreme pace on the climbs took its toll on the peloton. A number of riders including Hanka Kupfernagel (German National Team) lost connection with the group, they did however manage to regain contact on the decent.  

The first Category 1 climb was the deciding point of the race, a group of 13 riders attacked and worked well together to gain an advantage on the chasing peloton. This group included a number of the top riders on the general classification and included the yellow jersey holder Pooley. Noticeable absentees though were the Raleigh Lifeforce Creation HB team. This group managed to gain a 1 minute advantage very quickly.  

The top group were: Judith Arndt, Oenone Wood (both T-mobile); Nicole Brändli, Noemi Cantele (both Bigla); Andrea Graus, Worrack and Edita Puckinskaite (Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung); Emma Pooley (Team Specialized); Tina Liebig, Angela Brodtka (Team Getränke Hoffmann), Edwige Pitel (Team Uniqa), Susanne Ljungskog and Amber Neben (Team Flexpoint).

Raleigh Lifeforce tried to chase back and were on the front of the peloton driving very hard. Former yellow jersey wearer Emma Rickards and Christiane Soeder managed to bring the gap back to 18 seconds. However no other team supported the chase the lead increased to 25 seconds.  

Soeder and Tatiana Guderzo (AA-Drink) attacked and managed to get away from the main peloton. The leaders however managed to increase their lead to 2 minutes and 40 seconds from the main peloton and the two chasers were stranded in the middle at 20 seconds.

As the kilometres ticked away the leaders had managed to create a 7 minute 24 second lead from the main group. The two riders, Soeder and Guderzo were still stranded in the middle, unable to gain any advantage on the leaders. 

By the second Category 1 climb, it was obvious that Cantele and Arndt were going to attack. As the group reached the top, Arndt crossed first followed by Cantele and Neben, who worked hard all day, contributing to the effort which created the move. This was, in fact, the winning move. They quickly gained a 20 second advantage on the decent and increased it further as team tactics started to play a part in the chasing bunch. No one person was prepared to chase back. Although there was a little confusion, Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung had three riders in the group but left much of the chasing to the yellow jersey wearer Pooley. Wood acted as group marshal watching every move and doing everything she could to slow down the chasers. It appeared to work as the gap increased to just over 6 minutes.    

As the leaders reached the 10km to go sign Cantele tried to attack and shake off Arndt. She gained a small gap but Arndt closed this down. Again at the 2km to go sign, Cantele tried again to break free of the group, Neben sat in behind the attacks but could not quite hold the wheels of Cantele and Arndt. As the two leaders entered the final kilometre, Arndt attacked and was able to pass Cantele and hold her speed all the way to the line. She gave an emphatic yell as she crossed the line to secure the stage victory and the overall yellow jersey.

Emma Pooley arrived in the chasing group 6 minutes 43 seconds down. All was not lost however she had still held the mountain point’s jersey and the sprint point’s jersey. The two chasers Guderzo and Soeder arrived some 13 minutes 21 seconds and 17 minutes 7 seconds respectively after the winner. The main peloton finished 37 minutes down.

The young rider jersey stays with Chinese rider Wang Fei, while Arndt and Pooley shared the remaining jerseys.

Judith Arndt (T-Mobile) was over the moon with her victory. She talked thought the final stages of the race and the importance of the team director. “We worked well as a group right up to the 10km to go and then Cantele started to attack. We went with her and it wasn’t until the 1.5 km point that Cantele made the last move, Anna [Wilson, Team Director] told me Cantele is going. Cantele jumped really quickly, it took me a while to get on her wheel again and managed it, it was early enough and I made sure I was first round the corner and it paid off”.

Oenone Wood (T-Mobile) was very tired after the ride today. WCN asked how difficult it was in the group once Judith [Arndt] had managed to get away. “I was trying to slow the group down to make sure that I helped to give Judith [Arndt] as much time advantage as possible going into the final stages. The yellow jersey and Nürnberger riders tried to chase and there were a couple of attacks by Ljungskog and Brändli but I went with everything and I felt they lost motivation to try to keep it going. Given the time advantage at the start of the day it was unknown whether it could be beaten, asked if the team believed they could do it today, Wood added, “On course like this anything can happen, its up and down all day and you have these really strong winds so when a group goes away its had to control it. His result today is perfect for us”.

Emma Pooley (Team Specialized for Women) was a little disappointed to have lost the yellow jersey but happy to still hold the Grey Mountains and White Sprint jerseys. “It was very harsh for me today because I was on my own in the bunch. Once the three got away it was hard for me. There were three from Nürnberger and two from Getränke Hoffmann they really didn’t want to do anything to chase. I had to lead for most of the way. It’s so harsh because you know if you lead they are just going to attack you at the finish and that is exactly what happened. Fortunately they went quite late so I didn’t loose too much time.