Ina Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia) won her third successive Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo, the first support race for this weekend’s Ronde van Drenthe World Cup. The German champion won the sprint from a breakaway group of eleven riders that escaped in the last 40km of the 141.2km race. She won by a bike length over Emma Johansson (RedSun Cycling) and Annemiek Van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit).
"It was a spectacular win and it came after some really hard racing," said HTC-Columbia sports director Ronny Lauke. "Ina and Adrie Visser [her HTC-Columbia teammate] got into an 11-rider break that was only 25 seconds ahead at most for 40 kilometres right the way to the finish.
"The two led into a cobbled section at the head of the pack with about three kilometres to go and they realized they were two of the strongest riders present. So then Adrie made the rest of the break suffer by going flat out with Ina on her back wheel until the last 300 metres.
"Another rider tried to open up the sprint, but Ina reacted quickly and won by a bike-length."
The 141.2km race featured a number of sections of cobbles that typify this part of the eastern Netherlands. With the countryside of the region completely flat, there were no classified climbs in the race, but the steep VAM-berg – a reclaimed landfill site – will feature prominently in Saturday’s World Cup race.
Result
1. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Columbia
2. Emma Johansson (Swe) RedSun Cycling
3. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
4. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Gauss-RDZ-Ormu
5. Sarah Düster (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam
6. Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
7. Adrie Visser (Ned) HTC-Columbia @ 9s
8. Lucy Martin (GBr) Great Britain National Team @ 12s
9. Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam @ 14s
10. Monique Van De Ree (Ned) Leontien.nl @ 14s