WomensCycling.net - GP Ciudad de Valladolid World Cup 2010

Charlotte Becker (Cervelo Test Team) sprinted to victory ahead of Judith Arndt (HTC Columbia) and Annemiek van Vlueten (Netherland Bloeit). Marianne Vos (Netherland Bloeit) won the sprint for fourth to hold on to her World Cup lead.

Valladoilid pulled out all the stops for the latest round of the World Cup, when the series returned to Spain after a four year hiatus. A city centre start and a city finishing circuit, covered 3 times brought the race to those who couldn't get out onto the course; which was rolling and rural, but with good roads and wonderful scenery.
Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) lined up for the start in the series Leader's jersey for a race which, it seemed, would suit the sprinters. In fact, the peloton staying together for the first three quarters of the race. The teams were waiting for the final climb before making their collective moves. So, it was with around forty kilometres remaining that the decisive split was made. A strong trio formed; Charlotte Becker (Cervelo Test Team), Judith Arndt (HTC-Columbia Women) and Annemieke van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) and built up a solid lead, of just over one minute, over the peloton.

The closing kilometres were around the Valladolid city circuit, with a 180 degree turn after the finish line, thus the course passed up both sides of a divided road. The peloton were never within direct sight of the leaders on the circuit, but they could see the trio's race procession travelling in the opposite direction ahead of them.
With such a large gap, the leaders could have slowed and watched each other for the sprint. Becker, though, was aware of the sudden burst of speed which Van Vleuten can produce and the ability to go beyond the pain of effort possessed by Arndt. Becker chose instead to sprint from the front. She maintained her advantage to the line and took her first road World Cup victory ahead of Arndt and then van Vleuten.

Marianne Vos won the bunch sprint for fourth and cemented her lead at the top of the World Cup rankings. The Dutchwoman will wear the rainbow jersey in the Open de Suede TTT - team time trial - on 30 July. Cervelo will be looking for another World Cup win this season, although there's much deeper pride at stake. The team, in its various incarnations, has never been beaten in a World Cup TTT.

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Post Race Comments

Charlotte Becker (Cervelo Test Team) went with the decisive move of the race, when at 30 km to go, four riders attacked, and Becker went with them. " Later on two lost contact with our group and then I was with left with Judith Arndt and Annemiek van Vleuten,” explained Becker after the race. “The gap was getting bigger and I know that I’ve been fast in the sprints in the last couple of weeks so I was thinking positively. I knew that van Vleuten is really fast, especially since she had not been riding full gas as her teammate Marianne Vos (Netherland Bloiet) was in the group behind us. I lead my group into the final and never gave the front position away, I went full gas as well and the two where not able to pass me.”

“I am really happy about my first World Cup win, and that I got the chance from the team to go for my own success today. The plan for us was to have somebody in the final break away and everything went according to plan.”

Egon van Kessel, (Sports Director Cervelo Test Team) was happy with the performance of Becker and the team, “At the beginning today, it was not such a hard race. Not too windy, flat and a little bit hilly,” said van Kessel. “But after about 2 hours of racing it got a little windier, not too much but enough to make it harder. Then we had a climb and we attacked there. Then the bunch broke into several parts. But at the end before the final started there was a bunch of 50 to 60 riders and there were several attacks. On the last attack there was a break with three riders with Charlotte Becker from our team, Annemiek van Vleuten and Judith Arndt, and these three riders made it to the end of the race. There was a sprint and Charlotte won her first World Cup race, and our second World Cup win, this year.

“We were fairly happy but also surprised because it’s not that easy to win a World Cup especially when we are not here with our fastest sprinters. But in small groups I know we can win the race and it happened today. It was a very good result and we’re very happy with it.”

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Results - Top 10 - click here to see full result

Position	Name		Team	Time/Gap
1	Charlotte	BECKER	CERVELO TEST TEAM	3:02:09
2	Judith	ARNDT	HTC COLUMBIA WOMEN	"
3	Annemiek	VAN VLEUTEN	NEDERLAND BLOEIT	"
4	Marianne	VOS	NEDERLAND BLOEIT	a 01:06
5	Giorgia	BRONZINI	GAUSS RDZ ORMU	a 01:06
6	Emma	JOHANSSON	REDSUN CYCLING TEAM	a 01:06
7	Monia	BACCAILLE	TEAM VALDARNO	a 01:06
8	Nicole	COOKE	GREAT BRITAIN NATIONAL TEAM	a 01:06
9	Oxana	KOZONCHUK	SAFI-PASTA ZARA	a 01:06
10	Pascale	JEULAND	VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE	a 01:06

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Standings Top 10 - click here to see full standings

Position	Name	Country/Team	Points
1	Marianne Vos	Nederland Bloeit	185
2	Emma Johansson	Redsun Cycling Team	125
3	Grace Verbeke	Lotto Ladies Team	123
4	Annemiek Van Vleuten	Nederland Bloeit	105
5	Charlotte Becker	Cervelo TestTeam	105
6	Judith Arndt	HTC Columbia Women	101
7	Nicole Cooke	Great Britain	96
8	Kirsten Wild	Cervelo TestTeam	92
9	Emma Pooley	Cervelo TestTeam	82
10	Loes Gunnewjik	Nederland Bloeit	76

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Photos Click on any image to enlarge >>

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