CANYON//SRAM Racing finished with Soraya Paladin sprinting to tenth place at today’s Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. The women’s race was neutralised, re-routed and eventually shortened following a traffic accident involving one of the police officers in the convoy.

When the peloton entered Valkenburg it received a sign for two laps to go. A flurry of attacks, including a short-lived breakaway with Kasia Niewiadoma and Elise Chabbey came and went as the climbers hurriedly tried to rid the sprinters. Ricarda Bauernfeind went with a three-rider move on the Geulhemmerberg and the trio of riders quickly built a gap of over 1:10 minutes. As the peloton chased into the final 5km the gap came down to just a few metres at the bottom of the final Cauberg climb.

Kasia Niewiadoma attacked on the Cauberg but with many sprinters still with fresh legs, the gap she created was not big enough. A group of twenty two riders sprinted, with Soraya Paladin tenth behind winner Marianne Vos (VLD).

RIDER REACTIONS

Soraya Paladin: “We stopped for over an hour due to the accident and we only did three laps of the circuit. It made it a short, hectic race. Ricarda was really strong in the breakaway for us and when Kasia attacked she couldn’t make the difference from the group. In the end we got a top ten today. We aim for more and are already looking forward to Fléche Wallonne on Wednesday.”

Ricarda Bauernfeind: “Safety always should come first and we all hope that the police officer and others involved in the accident are okay. The change made a difference to the race. I had wanted to attack on the Geulhemmerberg but when Eva (Van Agt) went I was able to follow. I enjoyed being in the breakaway.”

“I knew if our breakaway would make it to the bottom of the final Cauberg, there’s still such a long way to go to the finish and most likely a group will catch us. When Kasia’s attack didn’t work, then I went to the front and just did my best to pace it until the finish line.”

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