Emma Pooley (Cervélo TestTeam) won the first stage of the Giro del Trentino between Trentino and Appiano. The Briton rode away from the rest of the peloton on the one major obstacle of the day, the 1363m Passo Mendola and descended alone to the finish. Alessandro D’Ettorre (Top Girls-Fasso Bortolo-Ghezzi) finished second, and Rasa Leleivyte (Safi-Pasta Zara) was third.
After 25km, almost as soon as the long climb began, Pooley pulled away from the front of the peloton with Italian time trial champion Noemi Cantele (HTC-Columbia); 10km later though she dropped Cantele and continued to the top alone.
“It was a really long climb, 45 km but not really steep,” said Pooley after the stage. “On the climb I went in the lead with Cantele but she didn’t work and was just on my wheel. The first time I attacked, she was able to follow. But with the second attack I was able to drop her. I wanted to make the gap as big as possible because I knew that she is good on the downhill and I didn’t want to take to many risks with the Giro d’Italia in mind. Once again our team is really strong, and any one of my teammates could also be in my position today. We will defend the yellow jersey now and try to win this race.”
At the top of the Passo Mendola Pooley had a lead of 4 ‘30” and after the 20km descent to the finish she still had 2’53’ over the chasing group.
The race also saw a return to racing for World champion Tatiana Guderzo (Team Valdarno), who has taken a break from racing since last month’s Tour de l’Aude, recovering from an inflamed knee tendon. The 25-year-old finished safely in the main peloton in 23rd place.
Result stage 1
1. Emma Pooley (Cervélo TestTeam)
2. Alessandra D'Ettorre (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Ghezzi) @ 2'53"
3. Rasa Leleivyte (Safi-Pasta Zara)
4. Julia Martisova (Gauss-RDZ-Ormu)
5. Sylvia Kapusta (Safi-Pasta Zara)
6. Eva Lechner (Alto Adige)
7. Patricia Schwager (Cervélo TestTeam)
8. Judith Arndt (HTC-Columbia) @ 2'58"
9. Trixi Worrack (Noris Cycling) @ 3'19"
10. Lorena Foresi (Safi-Pasta Zara)
Standings after stage 1
1. Emma Pooley (Cervélo TestTeam)