The Women’s UCI World Cup returns this week, after an almost two month break, with the Open de Suède Vårgårda team time trial in Sweden on Friday; the Cervélo TestTeam looking to defend its 100% record in the event. The Dutch-registered team is sending its strongest team to the race, but will face stiff opposition from last years second place, HTC-Columbia.
The Cervélo TestTeam line-up is without Kristin Armstrong and Christiane Soeder, both of who retired at the end of last season, but is strengthened by German and British champions Charlotte Becker and Emma Pooley. HTC-Columbia’s team also has changes from last year, with the addition of powerful rouleur Adrie Visser and World Championship silver medallist Noemi Cantele.
While the two rival teams are not the only ones in the race, the result – barring accident – should go to either one of them. The Cervélo beat Columbia-HTC, as it was called last year, by more than a minute, with Flexpoint and Nürnberger Versicherung both within a few seconds of them; the Flexpoint team folded at the end of last year, and Nürnberger Versicherung now races as Noris Cycling and is considerably weaker as a team than before.
The team likely to come closest to challenging the two strongest teams is Nederland Bloeit, led by World Cup leader and Dutch time trial champion Marianne Vos. The 23-year-old almost didn’t make it to Sweden this week though, as her passport had been left in the team’s campervan which travelled up without her; elder brother Anton had to fly home to ensure that she could travel out on schedule.
While the team time trial awards very few individual World Cup points (just 35 for each member of the winning team) it could potentially allow Becker to move up to second place in the standings if the Cervélo TestTeam wins.
Victory for the Cervélo TestTeam would also see them overtake HTC-Columbia in the team standings, something that the German registered team certainly hopes to avoid. The race for the individual World Cup standings will continue in earnest in the Open de Suède Vårgårda road race on this coming Sunday.
Cervélo TestTeam for Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT:
Charlotte Becker, Regina Bruins, Sarah Düster, Emma Pooley, Iris Slappendel and Kirsten Wild
HTC-Columbia for Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT:
Kim Anderson, Judith Arndt, Noemi Cantele, Linda Villumsen, Adrie Visser and Ellen Van Dijk
World Cup standings after 6 rounds
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit 185pts
2. Emma Johansson (Swe) RedSun Cycling 125
3. Grace Verbeke (Bel) Lotto Ladies Team 123
4. Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam 105
5. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit 105
6. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia 101
7. Nicole Cooke (GBr) Great Britain National Team 96
8. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam 92
9. Emma Pooley (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam 82
10. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Columbia 78
Team standings
1. HTC-Columbia (Ger) 359pts
2. Cervélo TestTeam (Ned) 345
3. Nederland Bloeit (Ned) 291
4. RedSun Cycling Team (Bel) 144
5. Lotto Ladies Team (Bel) 132