Judith Arndt wins her second Women’s Ronde van Vlaanderen
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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Judith Arndt wins her second Women’s Ronde van Vlaanderen

by Ben Atkins at 9:13 AM EST   comments
Categories: Pro Cycling, Race Reports and Results, Tour of Flanders
 
World time trial champion outsprints Kristen Armstrong in identical one-two to 2008 race

judith arndtJudith Arndt (GreenEdge-AIS) has won her second Ronde van Vlaanderen, four years after her first, in an identical two-up sprint with Kristin Armstrong (United States). The two riders escaped on the long, cobbled climb of the Oude Kwaremont, after an acceleration from Armstrong pulled them clear, and rode together to contest the finish.

As the World time trial champion and Olympic time trial champion respectively, Arndt and Armstrong managed to pull out more than a minute on the large chasing peloton. As they entered the final kilometre they began to look at one another; Armstrong launched her sprint first, but Arndt easily overcame her to take a repeat of her 2008 victory.

"Our plan had been to put riders up the road beginning after 40 kilometers," she said afterwards, explaining the team tactics. "We're all pretty good from a break, so we can be aggressive. My teammates did this, and I saved myself for the last three climbs.

"We came into the final kilometer, and I thought to myself 'OK, I have a 50/50 chance here.' I'm usually a little bit better than Armstrong in a normal sprint, but after a hard race with only two riders, it can be a little difficult. She jumped at 350 meters, and I saw her acceleration immediately. I matched it and passed her. She conceded."

As the duo escaped they were pursued initially by Evie Stevens (Specialized-lululemon) and Andrea Dvorak (United States) - who had been in a break together shortly before - along with Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-Mistral Home). The trio was reeled in by the chasing peloton, however, as the AA Drink-Leontien.nl team tried to set up Dutch sprinter Kirsten Wild.

At the finish however, Joelle Numainville (Canada) managed to overcome Wild, with Adrie Visser (Skil-1t4i) in fifth.

Arndt's victory was hailed after the race by her directeur sportif, Dave McPartland. "This is an unbelievable win," he said, savouring the achievement. "We've had a hugely successful run this year, and this is our biggest victory to date. Happy is an understatement.

"We had five girls in the front bunch when the race hit the Oude Kwaremont. With 27 kilometers left, we had the strongest presence at the front of the race when Judith went away with Kristin."

He added that any of the team's five riders in the front group could have won the race. "Today was Judith's day. We're extremely thrilled by our first Tour of Flanders."

More reactions to follow

Under near-perfect weather conditions, the race started very fast, and the peloton was more or less together for the 45km, with only a few riders losing contact before the first climbs of the Rekelberg, Berendries and Valkenberg.

On the Haaghoek cobbled section however, accelerations at the front, from British champion Lizzie Armitstead (AA Drink-Leontien.nl), and Tiffany Cromwell (GreenEdge-AIS) among others, saw the peloton splint into three. Among those to miss the front group were defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank), who was just coming back from a puncture, and 2007 winner Nicole Cooke (Faren Honda).

Over the Kaperij and Kanarieberg climbs the peloton began to split further, with a group of seven riders pulling away from the rest. As Dvorak and Stevens escaped on the Kruisberg however, the selection began to be made.

The two Americans were 20 seconds clear as they hit the foot of the Oude Kwaremont, but this was where Armstrong made her own move. The Olympic time trial champion jumped clear of the chasing group, taking Arndt with her, and they quickly caught and passed Dvorak and Stevens; Johansson followed them across, but was unable to go with the two new leaders.

Arndt and Armstrong were nine seconds clear over the top of the long climb, which had increased to 30 seconds as they rode over the top of the Paterberg.

The rest of the front peloton was gaining on the three chasers however, catching them just before the summit of the Hoogberg; the final climb of the day.

Up front, the two riders that finished one-two in the 2008 edition of the race were putting their combined time trialling strengths to good use and, with just over 10km to go had managed to increase their lead to 1’37”. Despite the chase from AA Drink-Leontien.nl behind, who wanted to bring the race back together for Wild, the gap was only closing very slowly as Arndt and Armstrong began the flat 9km run to the finish.

With 5km to go, the two leaders still had 1’15” on the chasing group, which now numbered 33, and they had plenty of time to battle out the result between themselves. Into the final kilometre they were both still working hard however, until finally, with around 500 metres to go, they began to look at one another.

Arndt was on the front, close to the right hand barrier and inviting Armstrong to go left; with 350 metres to go, the American did just that. Arndt was on her in a flash however, and, once the former World champion had begun her sprint, a repeat of 2008 was the only result possible.

After her 11th in the ronde van Drenthe, and fourth in the Trofeo Binda, Arndt’s victory lifts her to second overall in the World Cup standings, with 115 points. The German is now just 35 points behind Marianne Vos (Rabobank), who won both Drenthe and Binda, but who missed the Ronde van Vlaanderen through illness.

World Cup standings after three rounds
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Stichting Rabo Women 150 pts

2. Judith Arndt (Ger) GreenEdge-AIS 115
3. Kirsten Wild (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl 80
4. Emma Johansson (Swe) Hitec Products-Mistral Home 71
5. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Specialized-lululemon 62

6. Adrie Visser (Ned) Skil-Argos 56
7. Kristin Armstrong (USA) USA 50
8. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) MCipollini-Giambenini 50

9. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra) Stichting Rabo Women 42

10. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Diadora-Pasta Zara 39

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Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouen/Women's Tour of Flanders (World Cup)

  Click on the arrowsat the top of the column to sort the race results.
Country Result Name Team Time
ger GER 1 Judith Arndt (GreenEdge-AIS) 03:19:05
usa USA 2 Kristin Armstrong (Exergy Twenty12) 00:00:02
can CAN 3 Joëlle Numainville () 00:00:30
ned NED 4 Kirsten Wild (AA Drink - Leontien.nl) s.t.
ned NED 5 Adrie Visser (Skil - Argos) s.t.
ned NED 6 Ellen Van Dijk (Team Specialized- Lululemon) s.t.
bel BEL 7 Evelyn Arys (Kleo Ladies Team) s.t.
lux LUX 8 Christine Majerus (Team GSD Gestion) s.t.
ned NED 9 Anna Van Der Breggen (Sengers Ladies Cycling Team) s.t.
blr BLR 10 Alena Amialyusik (Be Pink) s.t.
fra FRA 11 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team) s.t.
swe SWE 12 Emma Johansson (Hitec Products - Mistral Home) s.t.
usa USA 13 Carmen Mcnellis Small () s.t.
bel BEL 14 Maaike Polspoel (Topsport Vlaanderen - Ridley 2012) s.t.
aus AUS 15 Tiffany Cromwell (GreenEdge-AIS) s.t.
ger GER 16 Hanka Kupfernagel (RusVelo) s.t.
fra FRA 17 Audrey Cordon (Vienne Futuroscope) s.t.
rus RUS 18 Tatiana Antoshina (Rabobank Women Team) s.t.
ltu LTU 19 Rasa Leleivyte (Vaiana - Tepso) s.t.
fra FRA 20 Amelie Rivat (Vienne Futuroscope) s.t.
usa USA 21 Megan Guarnier (Team TIBCO) s.t.
ger GER 22 Trixi Worrack (Team Specialized- Lululemon) s.t.
ita ITA 23 Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products - Mistral Home) s.t.
bel BEL 24 Lieselot Decroix (Dolmans - Boels Cycling Team) s.t.
ita ITA 25 Tatiana Guderzo (MCipollini - Giambenini - Gauss) s.t.
can CAN 26 Denise Ramsden () s.t.
ned NED 27 Chantal Blaak (AA Drink - Leontien.nl) s.t.
usa USA 28 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy Twenty12) s.t.
rus RUS 29 Olga Zabelinskaya (RusVelo) s.t.
usa USA 30 Taylor Wiles (Exergy Twenty12) s.t.
ita ITA 31 Noemi Cantele (Be Pink) s.t.
usa USA 32 Evelyn Stevens (Team Specialized- Lululemon) s.t.
aus AUS 33 Amanda Spratt (GreenEdge-AIS) s.t.
gbr GBR 34 Elizabeth Armitstead (AA Drink - Leontien.nl) s.t.
gbr GBR 35 Emma Pooley (AA Drink - Leontien.nl) 00:00:54
bel BEL 36 Liesbet De Vocht (Rabobank Women Team) 00:01:52
ita ITA 37 Martina Corazza (Kleo Ladies Team) s.t.
usa USA 38 Samantha Schneider (Team TIBCO) s.t.
rus RUS 39 Svetlana Bubnenkova (RusVelo) s.t.
ita ITA 40 Monia Baccaile (MCipollini - Giambenini - Gauss) s.t.
can CAN 41 Leah Kirchmann () s.t.
ger GER 42 Ina Yoko Teutenberg (Team Specialized- Lululemon) s.t.
usa USA 43 Kristin Mcgrath (Exergy Twenty12) s.t.
rus RUS 44 Irina Molicheva (RusVelo) s.t.
can CAN 45 Clara Hughes (Team Specialized- Lululemon) s.t.
aus AUS 46 Alexis Rhodes (GreenEdge-AIS) s.t.
ger GER 47 Sarah Düster (Rabobank Women Team) s.t.
usa USA 48 Lauren Hall (Team TIBCO) s.t.
bel BEL 49 Ludivine Henrion (Lotto Belisol Ladies) 00:01:57
bel BEL 50 Annelies Van Doorslaer (Kleo Ladies Team) 00:04:46
rus RUS 51 Julia Martisova (Be Pink) s.t.
bel BEL 52 Ine Beyen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Ridley 2012) s.t.
ltu LTU 53 Inga Cilvinaite (Diadora-Pasta Zara) s.t.
ita ITA 54 Valentina Carretta (MCipollini - Giambenini - Gauss) s.t.
ned NED 55 Josien Van Wingerden (Specialized Dpd Sram Cycling Team) s.t.
ned NED 56 Lucinda Brand (AA Drink - Leontien.nl) s.t.
usa USA 57 Amanda Miller (Team TIBCO) s.t.
bel BEL 58 Kaat Hannes (Lotto Belisol Ladies) s.t.
nor NOR 59 Lise Nøstvold (Hitec Products - Mistral Home) 00:07:44
ger GER 60 Romy Kasper (RusVelo) s.t.
fra FRA 61 Christelle Ferrier-breneau (Hitec Products - Mistral Home) s.t.
ned NED 62 Mascha Pijnenborg (Dolmans - Boels Cycling Team) 00:08:56
gbr GBR 63 Lucy Martin (AA Drink - Leontien.nl) s.t.
rus RUS 64 Oxana Kozonchuk (Be Pink) s.t.
ita ITA 65 Marta Tagliaferro (MCipollini - Giambenini - Gauss) s.t.
bel BEL 66 Anne Aernouts (Kleo Ladies Team) s.t.
slo SLO 67 Polona Batagelj (Diadora-Pasta Zara) s.t.
ita ITA 68 Valentina Scandolara (S.C. Michela Fanini Rox) s.t.
ned NED 69 Regina Bruins (Skil - Argos) s.t.
ukr UKR 70 Alona Andruk (Diadora-Pasta Zara) s.t.

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