Previous coverage of this event  >>   2008    2007    2006  

Thüringen Rundfahrt, 2009

WCN quicklink >>   Preview   Stage 1  Stage 1 Full    Stage 2  Stage 3 Stage 3 Full  Stage 4   Stage 4 Full  

                                    Stage 5  Stage 5 Full  Stage 6  Stage6 Full

On this page >>  Write-up      Comments     Results      General Classification     Photos

Christiane Soeder (Cervelo Test Team) was a very worthy winner, of the time trial stage of this years Thüringen Rundfahrt. 54^th to start Soeder caught her minute rider on the second climb. “It was the hardest ever time trial stage in Thüringen. Last year Schmölln was hard but this year was much harder. The wind today was very strong and it made it very difficult. It was a side wind that made handling the time trial bike really hard. The course was very technical and manoeuvring on the time trial bike in the decent was tough,” said Soeder

Trixi Worrack (Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung) finished second on the stage only 5 seconds behind Soeder. “It was very difficult today. The wind was so strong and the course was very technical. You could not get into a rhythm. It was up an down all the time and you could not settle. On the decent I got moved around quite a lot," said Worrack

Marianne Vos (DSB Bank) finished third 35 seconds behind Soeder, “Time trials are always difficult but today with all the corners and hills made it very tough. It was hard in the wind but I did not feel that it was so hard that it blew you away,” said Vos. Asked if she felt there was a chance to get into yellow over the last two stages, Vos added, “It will be difficult, but as we saw yesterday, it is possible to close a gap or gain a gap. So we will see, today was a good time trial and I am very happy about it.”

Linda Villumsen (Columbia HTC) finished 5^th on the stage and had done enough to stay in yellow by 53 seconds. “I am completely dead today, I did not have good legs for the first fifteen kilometres, I was suffering so badly then it went down hill so it was ok,” said Villumsen. “I struggled in the wind a little and I had not seen the course and the ‘Hankaberg’ before, as I have not got to that stage in the tour. I was waiting for the ‘Hankaberg’ to come and the corners were really difficult. Petra was really good in the car behind. She told me where the corners and descending points were coming so it really helped,” said Villumsen. Asked if she thought she could defend the yellow jersey to the end of the final stage, Villumsen added, “There are still to hard stages to go and now that I have seen the ‘Hankaberg’, I am not sure.”

Tina Liebig (DSB Bank) secured her day in the mountains jersey and will look to defend it into the final two days. “It was easy and hard today. The course was really difficult today and I wasn’t really sure of going on the time trial bike on the course but everyone else was so I did it too. I am glad it is over and I am looking to each stage, one at a time,” said Liebig.  

Copyright WomensCycling.net 2004 - 2009^©