Sarah Düster (Cervélo TestTeam) won the 5.9km prologue of the Route de France, between Lanvollon and Plouha in northern Brittany. The 28-year-old German raced along the almost completely straight course in a time of 7’58”, beating Annemiek Van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) by just 4 hundredths of a second; Olga Zabelinskaya (Safi-Pasta Zara) finished in third place, 7 seconds back.
As an early starter, Düster posted what was to be the fastest time, them had to watch and wait for the rest of the field as they tried, and failed, to beat her.
“I am really proud of my result, actually I can’t believe it,” said Düster after her victory. “I was sitting so long in the chair at the finish line, and all the big riders came in but nobody passed me. Today I went full gas from the start because I had really good legs and was able to keep it up all the way to the finish. The team, once again performed very well. Our goal is to keep the jersey as long as possible and we will work for it day by day.”
“The course today was pretty hilly though it was a short course, just 5.9 km,” said Cervélo TestTeam sports director Egon van Kessel. “As you can see by the result, it was a course made for strong riders. Sarah started at the beginning of the race, and she had to wait awhile, but it is great that she made it. If there is one rider who deserved this it is Sarah who always works really hard for the team.”
Tomorrow’s first stage will take in 116.4km between Guincamp and Locmine.
Result prologue
1. Sarah Düster (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam
2. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
3. Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus) Safi-Pasta Zara @ 7s
4. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 9s
5. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 11s
6. Adrie Visser (Ned) HTC-Columbia @ 12s
7. Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) Team Valdarno @ 15s
8. Natalia Boyarskaya (Rus) Fenixs-Petrogadgets @ 17s
9. Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam @ 17s
10. Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam @ 17s