Road World Cup 2008

World Cup Coverage  >>   2009   2008    2007    2006    2005

WCN quicklink >> Rund um die Nurnberger Aldstadt (Round 11)    GP De Plouay, (Round 10)   Open de Suede TTT (Round 9)   

                             Open de Suede (Round 8)    Tour of Montreal (Round 7)   Tour De Berne (Round 6)   Fleche Wallone (Round 5)   

                             Ronde van Drenthe (Round 4)   Tour of Flanders (Round 3)    Trofeo Binda (Round 2)   Geelong (Round 1)    

                             World Cup Preview    

UCI Website

On this page >>  Write-up      Comments     Results      Standings     Photos

Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling were too hot for the competition and showed why they are the leading time trial team in the world at the moment. They won the event in a time of 38 minutes 56.7 seconds, over one minute ahead of the nearest team, Team Columbia Women, who finished in a time of 40 minutes 10.2 seconds.  

The team time trial in Vårgårda, Sweden was run under hot and sticky conditions. Although the temperature had dropped from the 31 degrees reported at 11.00 am, it was still sitting at 26 degrees when the first riders rolled out.

Initially it was Team Flexpoint who posted the fasted time at the first two heck points but they slowed after the turn and lost time. Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung was in second place and then jumped briefly into first place after the turn. Like Team Flexpoint they lost time after the turn.

Team Columbia Women matched the time of Nürnberger at 9.5km but were slightly slower at the turn. They picked it up however pushing Nürnberger into third at the finish. Cervelo Lifeforce were last to start and posted the fastest times at all of the splits and it was obvious that they could not be beaten.

Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team - members of the team were happy to chat exclusively to WomensCycling.net

Thomas Campana (Team Manager) was extremely happy with the riders’ performance. “We are very happy. We were very concentrated before the race and everybody was very nervous because the favourite role was up to us and that was very hard. We have some young riders in the team but the team did an excellent ride and the time show it” said Campana.

The Cervelo team included the Swiss, Austrian and former Australian time trial champions, Campana was asked if he felt this was their strength. “There is a big difference to have the best individual time trialist does not mean you have the best team time trialists. We worked very hard yesterday, we tested the riders over 5km, very fast, to show them what it means to go fast and that they have to go 5 to 10km faster than in an individual time trial. So in the end they made it and quite comfortably so I am very happy for the girls.  

Campana has worked hard to build the team this year and commented on the depth of riders. “Our team was just eight riders for most of the season so far and nobody reckoned that we were just running with eight riders. We took a number nine in the middle of the season with Carla Ryan and it is quite nice to see her development with the team. She is an excellent rider and will become a winner in the future I am sure. All the riders followed just one programme this year developed for the Olympic riders and the other have gone well as a result of this too. Emma [Rickards] is at home in Australia at the moment but she will be happy for the team. That is the specialty of the team and we have built a strong group. Kristin Armstrong joined at the start of the year and Carla in the middle so that has been a “Bingo” for us and I am happy with the whole team it is a recipe for success” he added.

Carla Ryan (Cervelo Lifeforce) was very happy with her first World Cup team win. “I am very happy, very happy in deed. This is awesome as this is my first World cup win or podium for that matter so I am pretty happy”. Discussing the transition from the Australian National team to a professional team Ryan commented, “This team, made it so easy for me to settle in. They have been so welcoming and accepted me from the word go. I am very grateful and appreciative to have been given the opportunity to ride with this team. They are so strong and such lovely people and I look forward to continuing with them into the future”

Karin Thürig (Cervelo Lifeforce) has been in incredible form right through the Thüringen Rundfahrt and through the World Cup and the team time trial, she discussed her recent form. “I am very happy with my form. It was a goal for our team and everyone did a great job today. We stayed together and that is very important and we did a great ride. In preparation I trained for three and a half weeks at altitude before Thüringen and I trained very hard and stayed healthy. My only issue was that my horse kicked me in my foot on Monday and I am very luck they was no damage. I am looking forward to Beijing and hope that I go well” said Thürig. 

Team Columbia Women chatted after the finish with WomensCycling.net

Alexis Rhodes came into the team, replacing Judith Arndt after the World Cup earlier in the week (the German is en route to Beijing for the Olympics). “It was really hard coming into the team just for this event. To ride with Linda [Villumsen], Ina [Teutenberg] and Lu [Luise Keller] was great, it was hard to hold on at times. The three of them were pretty amazing today; it was a whole team effort. Kim [Anderson] and Emilia [Fahlin] were amazing on the way out too. To come second to Cervelo is incredible, we are really happy with our ride” added Rhodes.

Emilia Fahlin (Team Columbia Women) was riding her home event and was a little disappointed with her overall performance in front of her home crowd on Wednesday on the road race but much happier today. “I had the road race and my performance in my head a little at the start today but there is a lot more to come from me and I am happy with how the team performed today” said Fahlin.

Luise Keller (Team Columbia Women) was very happy with her team and the way they rode today. “I am surprised at how good I felt today, I am usually scared before a team time trial because I don’t really like them but today I felt pretty good. At 1okm we were down to four riders but the two who could not follow had done a great job before so we were fine to the end” said Keller.

Petra Rossner (Team Columbia Women, Manager) was very happy with her team’s performance. “Considering we were down to four riders at 9.5km I am very happy with how we finished. You have to expect that when riders come out of hard tours like Thüringen and the World Cup race that they would have bad legs and it happened surprisingly early but we never gave up and the girls did a great job so it was not problem” said Rossner.

Équipe Nürnberger Versicherung 

Suzanne De Goede has been one of their strongest riders and is currently second in the world cup rankings. She told WomensCycling.net “That was a tough ride today but it is so cool that we got third. At one point we thought we were going to go second. We heard on the road, through the radio, that Cervelo were fastest and we were second and that, only Columbia were on the way and going fast. We knew that we were in the top three and we are very happy with that” said De Goede.

Jens Zemke (Directeur Sportif) was very happy with the overall performance of his team in Sweden this week.He told WomensCycling.net “We are very pleased, we have another podium today and with Charlotte’s [Becker] third place in the road race and today’s time trial this is a big success for us and we are very happy. We are building a new team and a lot of young riders so I think we will have a lot of success in the second part of the season. Suzanne De Goede is second in the World Cup and we have won over 30 races this year and I am sure there are more to come, so I am extremely happy” said Zemke. 

Menikini Selle Italia rode well at the start but lost time when they dropped down to 4 riders. Kori Seehafer was happy with the teams’ performance and her overall performance in Sweden. “I have been hurting the last few days for sure. I can barely sit on my bike” said Seehafer. “It was our first time doing the team time trial and we have some young riders, so we weren’t really fluid and we were not really expecting that much from the team. It was just good practice to be together and to let the young riders see what it felt like to do the event” added Seehafer. 

Overall Menikini and Seehafer have had a tremendous month of racing. Winning the Giro D’Italia and the World Cup, Seehafer was asked how she was feeling now about the teams and her performance and she said, “I was extremely happy with my performance in the Giro and my ability to support Fabiana [Luperini] in the climbs. I have never been able to do that before so I was really happy. Then to come to Sweden and win a World cup has definitely been the highlight of the season for me. I have been all smiles for a few weeks now”.