Tiffany Cromwell made a perfectly timed late attack today in the final 700m to win stage one of the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour. After Lisa Brennauer won the prologue yesterday, it continues the winning form of CANYON//SRAM Racing as the Australian crossed the line solo to win. Anna Zita Stricker won the bunch sprint for second, while Lisa Brennauer maintains her lead on the general classification.

Despite several attempts, no breaks could gain a substantial gap and the peloton was together for most of the race. Cromwell was in a late breakaway around 15km to the finish but the move was short-lived and the peloton came together again, reeling in a solo move with 3km to spare. After the finish Cromwell said it was Trixi Worrack who made the call on the road that the finish was “made for me.”

“Our plan was of course to keep the yellow jersey, but we also want to race and to win stages. Trixi had helped Lisa in the bonus sprints to keep a hold of the jersey. When we went through the finish line with 14km to race and Trixi said to me that the finish was made for me. With 700m to go there was a small downhill with a tight corner. I railed the descent and to make a move here and at first I had just 100m gap, but I was alone. After the corner the girls told me I had opened up a good gap and Trixi was yelling at me to keep going. I held my speed, put my head down and just went for it. The only time I looked around was with around 50m to go.”

“I’m happy to win this, and it’s also great to continue the team’s form from yesterday,” added Cromwell. The team will now race the second stage in Dörtendorf, starting at 17:00 CEST. Racing action can be followed on Twitter with #LTLT17.