Ina Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad) won the first stage of the Thüringen-Rundfahrt, the Rund um Gera, in a bunch sprint. The German champion, wearing the yellow jersey that she took in the prologue team time trial the previous day, beat former two-time Italian champion Monia Baccaille (MCipollini-Giambenini) into second, and British champion Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervélo) into third.
Such was the ferocity of the HTC-Highroad rider’s sprint that she gapped the rest of the peloton in the finishing straight.
"The girls did a fantastic job today," said HTC-Highroad sport director, Jens Zemke, "We were quite busy in this stage, with a few crashes. Chloe [Hosking] went down and had to swap bikes, and Ina crashed also but luckily had no mechanical issues."
Despite several attempts to break away in the first half of the stage, the only rider able to escape was British cyclocross champion Helen Wyman (Horizon Fitness), who got clear midway through the 119km stage. Wyman managed to build a maximum lead of more than three minutes but was brought back by the HTC-Highroad team with 9km to go, as the race hit the Gera finishing circuit.
"We had four girls controlling the pack while the other two brought the break in, and then they set up the leadout,” explained Zemke. “It was perfectly timed, and Ina came across the line with a ten second time bonus and the yellow jersey."
With Mark Cavendish dominating the sprint stages in the Tour de France for the HTC-Highroad men’s team, the women’s team in Germany can easily be compared with its male counterpart.
“I was today Lars Bak and [Chloe Hosking] Danny pate, so everybody knows what we did..” the team’s Dutch rouleur Adrie Visser posted to Twitter after the stage, “and Ina was Cav..”
Time bonuses on the line, as well as the single second gap she opened up in the sprint, mean that Teutenberg now leads the race that she won in 1996 by 8 seconds over teammate Judith Arndt.
Result stage 1
1. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad
2. Monia Baccaille (Ita) MCipollini-Giambenini @ 1s
3. Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) Garmin-Cervélo
4. Kirsten Wild (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl
5. Emma Johansson (Swe) Hitec Products-UCK
6. Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Horizon Fitness @ 3s
7. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Highroad
8. Sarah Düster (Ger) Nederland Bloeit
9. Regina Bruins (Ned) Skil-Koga
10. Marlen Jöhrend (Ger) AA Drink-Leontien.nl
Standings after stage 1
1. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 8s
3. Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) Garmin-Cervélo @ 11s
4. Amanda Miller (USA) HTC-Highroad @ 18s
5. Amber Neben (USA) HTC-Highroad @ 19s