HTC-Columbia's Judith Arndt celebrated hr first victory of the season when she took out stage two of the Bira race in Spain on Friday. The victory pushed her up to second place overall.
"This is a really important win for Judith on a lot of levels because she had a really difficult 2009 season with a lot of setbacks and injuries," said HTC-Columbia team manager Ronny Lauke. "But she got second in a World Cup race in Spain recently, and that was a sign that her form was on the way up again."
There was a fair amount of up and down today in the Basque Country. "It wasn't an easy win," confirmed Lauke. "Today's stage was very difficult, with five classified climbs and narrow, twisting roads. Most of the day it rained, too. But she got away with Häusler on that climb and they stayed away to the finish, with over 90 seconds on the chasing group."
Arndt broke away with Cervélo's Claudia Häusler - the number one and two of last year's general classification - on the next to last climb of a very tough 112 kilometer stage. Arndt then used her sprinting power to outrun Häusler. Arndt's victory is the twentieth win for the HTC-Columbia women's team this season.
The Bira stage race - Emakumeen Bira in Basque - is held since 1992 and has a tradition of a split stage. Saturday will be the day this year and start out with a short but difficult uphill time trial. Lauke says it could be decisive for the race. "With Judith clearly in good shape, we can be optimistic about it."
Then there is an 80km trek from Iurreta to Zuia in the afternoon, before the longest stage closes out the Bira race on Sunday, covering 126km. The team is looking forward for Arndt to repeat her overall victory, but they won't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out. "Whatever happens, today's win is a great moment for her and for the team," Lauke says.