Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) blitzed the time trial course to win stage 4 of the Tour of Scandinavia in Herring. The Australian time champion paced her efforts perfectly on the 16.4km course, setting the fastest splits in the last two intermediate checkpoints and ultimately clocking a time of 20:36.91 on Saturday.
Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma) was less than five seconds from Brown's fastest time after 10.8 kilometres but faded slightly to slot into second place, 19 seconds down.
Movistar’ Annemiek van Vleuten, riding her penultimate race as a professional cyclist, finished third on the stage, 23 seconds back and took over the overall lead by 17 seconds on Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ).
The final two riders to start, Van Vleuten and Uttrup Ludwig were separated by only 12 seconds going into the time trial. At the 10.8km split, the difference was down to nine seconds. By the end of the stage, Van Vleuten had gained 29 seconds to take over the lead with one stage remaining. Kraak moved to third overall, 33 seconds adrift. Liane Lippert (Movistar) held on to fourth overall, at 51 seconds while Brown jumped 13 spots to fifth overall, 54 seconds back.
Named as a pre-race favourite to win the stage, Brown rose to the pressure and delivered the goods.
“The aim is to make it look easy because then, you're probably doing a smooth ride but in the legs, it never feels easy," Brown said.
“It adds a little bit of pressure when, on paper, you're pinpointed as the most likely to win the course. Then you feel like you've got something to lose, rather than being a dark horse and, having everything to win. but it also gives me motivation. So I went out there and used the pressure to push harder.”
In its ninth edition, the Tour of Scandinavia included a time trial for the first time in its history. Brown noted some of the more difficult sections of the course and challenges including changing winds.
“I think probably the furthest part of the course where we were riding more into a headwind. Even though it was a flat course, there were sections that were more of a drag up and there, you really had to push quite hard. But then even in the sections with a bit of backwind or slight downhill, just not letting the power drop too much is also quite difficult and it was short so there was no time to rest and recover at any point in the course.”
How it unfolded
The peloton transferred south to Denmark for the final two stages of the Tour of Scandinavia beginning with the stage 4 time trial in Herning. It is the first time the event has offered a time trial.
As expected, the 16.4km route favoured the strongest time trial riders, but all would face the extra challenges of the technical sections in the centre of Herning including the final turn at 300 metres to go before the final slightly uphill dash to the finish.
Two riders, Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and Eugenia Bujak (UAE Team ADQ), did not take the start, leaving 102 riders to face the race of truth.
Femke Beuling (SD Worx) set the early fast time of 23:07.27 but did not enjoy her time on the hot seat with Rebecca Koerner, (Uno-X) and then Franziska Koch (SD Worx) beating her time.
Zoe Backstedt (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) blazed out from the start, the fastest on the first intermediate split so far but the 2022 junior world champion faded slightly to slot in behind Koch with many riders left to start.
Maaike Boogaard (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep) dislodged Koch by 0.34 seconds with a time of 21:15.55. The Dutch rider watched six-time French TT champion Audrey Cordon Ragot (Human Powered Health) and then Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) slot into fourth and fifth place, so far, behind her.
Strong time trial by the winner of the first and third stage, Lorena Wiebes crossed the line almost 30 seconds slower than the current fastest time. The Team SD Worx rider was pushing a big gear and slotted into 10th place for now.
Back into storming form, Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) took over the top of the leaderboard with a time of 21:07.38, eight seconds faster than Boogaard.
Brown blitzed the course, setting the fastest time in the second and third split to set a time of 20:36.91, the first rider to crack the 21-minute mark. The Australian time trial champion sustained a high speed and picked off multiple riders on her way to victory.
In the best time trial result so far in her short career, Kraak was less than five seconds off from Brown's fastest time after 10.8 kilometres and faded slightly to slot into second place, 19 seconds down.
Overall leader Uttrup Ludwig was the last rider to roll down the start ramp. She was preceded by Movistar’s Van Vleuten, riding her penultimate race as a professional cyclist. Their 12-second difference was down to only nine seconds at the 10.8km split.
Van Vleuten put on the pressure in the final six kilometres while Uttrup Ludwig seemed to be fighting with her bike. Van Vleuten clocked a time of 20:59. 45 finishing third on the stage, while Uttrup Ludwig was 17th with a time of 21:28.41.
Results
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