Teutenberg wins 'Zeeuwse Eilanden'
Photo: courtesy Wim Dingemanse
Photo: courtesy Wim Dingemanse
High Road's Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won her second stage of RaboSter "Zeeuwsche Eilanden" today, again beating Holland's Kirsten Wild in bunch sprint.
Winning the first intermediate time bonus sprint was a definitive moment for Teutenberg and team High Road, putting them in a position to win the overall tour as long as Teutenberg could win the final sprint.
"We also had some other hands to play with both Kate [Bates] and Alex [Rhodes] placing well in the prologue,"said High Road's Director Sportif Petra Rosser, "so we wanted to use those."
As planned, both Bates and Rhodes made the cut in a late break of ten riders. With the gap opening up to over 45 second, Bates was the leader on the road with 20km to go.
The break forced AA Drink to chase, which they did with the help of Vrienden Van Het Platteland. Instead of bring the break all the way back, they left it hanging at 15 second, which put Wild back into the virtual lead on the road.
"It was a tricky decision, "explained Rossner, "because Kate and Alex were doing a great job out in the break, but the timing was too close."
So the decision made, Bates and Rhodes stopped working and High Road put the team on the front to bring back the break and leading out Teutenberg for the sprint.
Wild started the sprint early, attacking around the last corner, but Teutenberg grabbed her wheel and was able to come around for the win.
"It was a great move by Kirsten," said Teutenberg. "She is really strong and a good surprise attack like that could have worked. I had pretty good position though so I was able to jump right on her around the corner."
Teutenberg finished the short three day tour with the overall win plus the win in the Points Classification and the Sprint Classification.
"I felt really good today," added Teutenberg. "I was pretty nervous for the final sprint. The team had done such a good job. It would have been real great for Alex for Kate to take the win but in the end it was still a good win for the team."
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