It was a third place for CANYON//SRAM Racing in last night’s Crescent Vårgårda team time trial (TTT) in Sweden. The team finished 51 seconds behind winning team Boels Dolman, and 38 seconds behind second placegetters Cervelo Bigla.

With a tailwind out to the turn-around point in Herrljunga, teams faced a strong headwind before the final circuit with a short climb 7km before the finish. Following the race Director Sportif Barry Austin said he was pleased with the team’s performance.

“I had to push slightly above our planned schedule for the first half, but fought well in the second half to stay in the podium. The third quarter coming back through Vårgårda went well and also over the top of the last climb and the following descent.”

The team crossed the line with four riders. “Alexis Ryan was lost early in the race as the team invested in the tough headwind section. Mieke dropped with around 3km to go after a huge pull on the last descent,” said Austin.

“What was pleasing was that they kept their focus on clean racing lines and a good rhythm whilst racing on their limit. It’s been an improvement in this last month.”

The team will tomorrow race the Crescent Vårgårda road race, Sunday 13 August. The roster remains unchanged for the 152km UCI Women’s WorldTour race: Hannah Barnes, Lisa Brennauer, Elena Cecchini, Mieke Kröger, Alexis Ryan and Trixi Worrack.

Austin is looking forward to tomorrow “We have a well balanced team cards to play in various scenarios. So we just need to make sure when the race deals the deck, we are in the game.”

The road race starts at 09:35 CEST and is broadcast live on Eurosport player, SBS on demand as well as the CVWT YouTube channel here.

Facebook

Twitter