Race Writeup

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC Columbia) made it four in a row to maintain her lead in the Giro Donne. Teutenberg powered to the line from a long way out to secure first place ahead of Kirstin Wild (Cervelo Test Team) and American Shelly Evans (USA).

The attacks started early on and it was the team of Gauss RDZ Ormu , who were stirring things up. They could not create a break however. Silvia Valsecchi (Top Girls) tried to get away on a lone break. She was joined by a small group of riders that included, Iris Slappendel (Cervelo Test Team), Ellen van Dijk (HTC Columbia), representation from Australian National team, MC Fanini, USA National team and Gauss. The peloton however was not far behind and they closed the gap. 

The escape of the day came from the USC Chirio Forno D 'Asolo rider, Viktoriya Vologdina. She managed to get herself away for a long time before the peloton decided that enough was enough with 35km to go. They closed the gap but immediately Uenia Fernando Da Souza the team mate of Vologdina, counter attacked. The reaction came immediately Linda Villumsen (HTC Columbia) covered the move and by 20km to go the race was back together. Fassa Bortolo moved to the front to string the bunch out and attempt a final attack but the teams of Netherlands and USA ensured it did not happen. 

In the final sprint, Teutenberg maintains her speed and finished with a record of four wins and a 40 second advantage going into stage 5.

Back to Top

Post Race Comments

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC Columbia) flt strong today, "Way to survive....switch of the brain+close eyes at times. Did finish 2 years ago. Went same. Super long sprint. 4 in row" said Teutenberg on Twitter just after the win.

"It's a very special moment.  I don't think in 30 years of racing as an amateur and professional that I've ever managed to take four wins in a row before," Teutenberg said afterwards. "We didn't think we were going to win the stage, we knew that a lot of the other teams were going to try for breaks, but they never seemed to work out."
"I remembered the finish from two years ago, and everybody went from 300 metres to go. But I came off the right wheel and was able to raise my hands before I went across the finish line. I knew I had got the win, which was nice."

Teutenberg's latest victory re-confirms her as race leader, although she is cautious about her chances in the upcoming stages. "It's a very difficult last three kilometres, and it'll be an uphill finish, so I'll have fight hard to hold onto the lead.  If it doesn't work out, I've just switch my brain into worker mode and make sure one of my teammates ends the race on Sunday as leader."

Back to Top

Results - Top 10 - click here to see full result

Back to Top

General Classification Top 10 - click here to see full GC

Back to Top

Photos   Click on any image to enlarge >>

Back to Top

Want to contact WomensCycling.net? 

The WomensCycling.net email address is

To contact the webmaster, the address is :

Type this address into the "To" line of a new email message in your email programme.

The WomensCycling.net email address is displayed as a graphic in order to reduce the amount of 'spam' email received from programmes which 'crawl' the internet for sites with addresses displayed in text and then overwhelm that address with junk, or even forge the address in junk messages that they generate and send to others. Sorry for any inconvenience this approach causes you.

Back to Top