Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) won the 24th edition of the Iurreta Emakumeen Bira (June 9-12) by one minute over Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK). Judith Arndt (HTC Highroad) was third in the five-stage race, 1'12 back. Vos won the final stage, ahead of Arndt and Johansson. It was the second time that Vos has taken the overall title, after already winning the event in 2008.
Team manager Jeroen Blijlevens was impressed with his top rider. "Marianne is incredibly strong at the moment, but also the team deserves a compliment," he told De Telegraaf. "They controlled the race." Of the five stages, Vos won three and took second twice. This is definitely what one could call control.
Vos has an incredible palmarès already, but is still hungry for more. She doesn't leave much hope to her close rivals. "I feel stronger than ever, I already noticed that in the first days of the race."
Vos is also very versatile. This year, she became cross World Champion, won the gold medal at the track Worlds in the scratch race and has already taken three road races: the Ronde van Drenthe, La Flèche Wallonne and the GP Ciudad de Valladolid.
The dominant Vos started the event with a sprint victory on day one over Ina Yoko Teutenberg (HTC Highroad) and Elizabeth Armitstead (Garmin-Cervélo). Vos continued by taking stage two solo. Johansson and Arndt led home the bunch, 21 seconds down.
The split third stage started out with an individual time trial of 7.6 kilometers. Vos could only manage second place this time, behind Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervélo). Vos had to concede three seconds to Pooley, but was 22 seconds over Arndt, who was sitting high on GC.
Johansson took the afternoon's 81km road stage, besting Vos in a two-up sprint. Trixie Worrack (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) was the first rider of the bunch across the line, 29 seconds behind the winning duo.
On the final day, Vos went back to what she knows best - winning. That confirmed her second overall in the prestigious Basque race.
Final GC
1º 16 VOS, Marianne NED NEDERLAND BLOEIT 10:56:42
2º 121 JOHANSSON, Emma SWE HITEC PRODUCTS-UCK a 01:00
3º 21 ARNDT, Judith GER HTC HIGHROAD WOMEN a 01:12
4º 54 POOLEY, Emma GBR GARMIN-CERVELO a 01:20
5º 45 WORRACK, Trixi GER AA DRINK-LEONTIEN.NL a 01:58
6º 64 MOOLMAN, Ashleigh RSA LOTTO HONDA TEAM a 02:30
7º 131 FERRIER, Christel FRA GAUSS a 02:34
8º 32 BATAGELJ, Polona SLO BIZKAIA-DURANGO a 02:39
9º 6 ZABELINSKAIA, Olga RUS DIADORA-PASTA ZARA a 02:57
10º 171 BERLATO, Elena ITA FASA. BORTOLO a 03:17