Ellen Van Dijk (HTC-Highroad) won the stage two time trial of the Profile Holland Ladies Tour in the Noord-Brabant town of Gemert. The former Dutch champion completed the 20.5km in 27’31”, beating current Dutch champion Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) by eleven seconds. Vos’ teammate, and World Cup winner, Annemiek van Vleuten finished third, 26 seconds behind.
Van Dijk was one of the first riders to start, having lost 9’51” on stage one thanks to an ill-timed mechanical. Although she avoided the rainy conditions that affected the later starters, she was obstructed by traffic on the early part of the course, but still managed an average speed of 44.7kph. After setting what was to be the winning time as the 21st rider to start, nobody was to come close until van Vleuten set off fifty minutes behind her.
"The mechanical yesterday lost a lot of time for her," said sport director Jens Zemke, "All team cars were behind the last group, so it took too long for us to get our mechanic on the scene."
"It was a very technical start for the first four kilometres, then it straightened out for the circuit. I could tell immediately that Ellen had power in her legs and was riding for the win."
Despite winning the time trial stage of the race for the third straight year, losing so much time on stage one means that she is still a long way down the overall classification.
"The GC isn't much of an option, but it wasn't a priority for us this year,” Zemke explained. “We plan to go after a few more stage wins if we can, but our main goal is to prepare for Worlds."
Thanks to her second place on the stage, stage one winner Vos further reinforces her overall lead. Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK) moves up to second place, thanks to her third place, and trails Vos by 30 seconds, while stage one runner up Ina Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad) slips to third, 58 seconds back.
Result stage 2
1. Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC-Highroad
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 11s
3. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 26s
4. Emma Johansson (Ned) Hitec Products-UCK @ 27s
5. Linda Villumsen (NZl) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 43s
6. Olga Zabelinskaya (Rus) Diadora-Pasta Zara @ 50s
7. Megan Guarnier (USA) Tibco-To the Top @ 51s
8. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Hitec Products-UCK @ 52s
9. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 1’00”
10. Kirsten Wild (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 1’07”
Standings after stage 2
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
2. Emma Johansson (Ned) Hitec Products-UCK @ 30s
3. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 58s
4. Kirsten Wild (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 1’02”
5. Shelley Olds (USA) Diadora-Pasta Zara @ 1’26’
6. Trixi Worrack (Ger) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 1’44’
7. Lucinda Brand (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 2’06”
8. Chantal Blaak (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 2’15”
9. Chloe Hosking (Aus) HTC-Highroad @ 2’17”
10. Sarah Düster (Ger) Nederland Bloeit @ 2’42”