Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) won the prologue time trial of the Festival Luxembourgeois du Cyclisme Féminin Elsy Jacobs in Mamer Luxembourg, for the second straight year, under constant heavy rain. The Netherlands road champion completed the 1.8km course in a time of two minutes, 29.7 seconds, in an average speed of 43.49kph to beat the nearest challenger, her own teammate World and Olympic road champion Marianne Vos, by a single second.
Third place went to Olympic Omnium bronze medallist Annette Edmondson (Orica-AIS), two seconds behind van Vleuten, and two seconds ahead of Laura Trott (Wiggle-Honda), the rider that beat her to gold in London 2012.
“I gave it everything,” van Vleuten said afterwards. “If you ride a course like that without taking any risks then you can already forget about it. There were quite a few corners and I went into them full on. The course suited me though, the prologue that I won last year was also very short, but a bit less technical.
"This was certainly also a course for Marianne,” she added. “First and second is of course a perfect start. I look forward to the next few days. It’s a nice race and we are here with a really strong team. We will certainly defend our position.”
Liliane Leenknegt (De Sprinters Malderen) was the first rider to start, but the first quick time was posted by eighth rider Katarzyna Pawlowska (GSD Gestion-Kallisto), who finished in 2’38”. Five minutes later South African champion Ashleigh Moolman (Lotto-Belisol) crashed on a wet corner; the Flèche Wallonne third place was able to remount and finish, but could only manage a time of 3’04”.
Another six minutes later van Vleuten blew Pawlowska off the top spot, going nine seconds faster with her time of 2’29”. Nobody was able to come within five seconds of the Dutchwoman’s time until Edmondson finished in 2’31” almost an hour later. Trott went into provisional third, with 2’33” another half hour after that, but she was knocked off the podium as Vos - starting last as the previous year’s overall race winner - finished in 2’30” to slot into second place.
Result prologue
1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Rabobank-Liv/Giant, 1.89km in 2’29”
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabobank-Liv/Giant @ 1s
3. Annette Edmondson (Aus) Orica-AIS @ 2s
4. Laura Trott (GBr) Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling @ 4s
5. Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica-AIS @ 5s
6. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Orica-AIS
7. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) MCipollini-Giordana
8. Adrie Visser (Ned) Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team
9. Jessie MacLean (Aus) Orica-AIS @ 6s
10. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Sengers Ladies Team