Hannah Barnes was the best placed rider from CANYON//SRAM Racing in 11th at the Crescent Vårgårda road race in Vårgårda, Sweden. After Alexis Ryan represented the team in an 11-rider breakaway for much of the 141km race, the peloton came together with two final circuits remaining for a sprint from a peloton of 30 riders. The race was won by Lotta Lepistö (CBT) from Marianne Vos (WM3) and Leah Kirchmann (SUN) in third place.

Read the rider’s reactions from Crescent Vårgårda below.

Alexis Ryan: My role was to patrol the front of the peloton for the first four circuits. It took me about half a lap to get to the front. The breakaway went soon after that (perfect timing!). It had a strong composition, but I was instructed not to work at the beginning. Once we gained a minute on the peloton, I started rolling through, but conserved as much energy as possible. We entered the circuits for the final four laps and Amanda Spratt immediately attacked on the climb. I dug deep to follow and again we had a strong composition of riders, but there were only five of us. A lap later we were absorbed by the peloton. I fell back into my role of covering attacks and was able to do one final, painful pull for the lead out. 

Overall, I’m really happy with how I raced today. My performance in the TTT was disappointing. Today was my redemption. It gives me confidence for the upcoming Tour of Norway!

Hannah Barnes: It was ok. It was a hard race and it was active. We had Alexis in the break which was good. I did a bit too much in the final lap but I didn’t want to let anyone get away and I was in the best position to go with them. I am disappointed with my sprint but I just had nothing left at the end.

Lisa Brennauer: I didn’t feel super great in the beginning of the race so we decided to go for Hannah in the finale. We had a good situation with Alexis in the front group so everything was fine for us. The gap got closed and we were really focused to be represented in the front of the race. Elena Trixi and me were able to go in the moves over the hill in the lap and did lots of work to follow and create attacks. The sprint didn’t go as planned.

Trixi Worrack: I felt quite good today. The team did a good job . We had Alexis in the front group of the day for a really long time. We still need to talk about what happened at the end.

Mieke Kröger: For me personally it was not a super race. I did one big mistake in positioning and I was not in a good position before one climb. That’s when I missed the front group and could not contribute to the outcome of the race. 

We as a team had a clear plan how we wanted to race. Alexis did a great job, getting into the main breakaway of the day. When the bunch came back together everyone except me was in front and decided to go for Hannah in the sprint.

Elena Cecchini:  We were well represented at the front with Alexis during the main breakaway of the day and when we came together I tried to be there where the attacks went on the climb of the circuit with Lisa and Trixi. The sprint was for Hannah but the lead out was not smooth and we didn’t get the result we wanted.

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