The Lidl-Trek TTT train was the first to arrive at the station in Barcelona on the opening day of La Vuelta Femenina.
At the halfway mark, a 180-degree turn, the Team was down on the best time by just a fraction of a second but a powerful second half saw Lidl-Trek stop the clock at 9 minutes 30 seconds, which ultimately proved to be enough to seal the stage win.
Ellen van Dijk was the first to cross the line so she will start stage 2 in the red leader’s jersey.
Ellen van Dijk:
“I’m super happy because we really wanted this win. It’s always super close this TTT, super fast and so short and everything needs to go well. It went super fast, I saw it was 9’40” or something so before you know it you finish. We had a really good strategy and we executed it really well, I think we did almost everything the way we wanted, maybe some things slightly different but that’s always [the case], so we’re satisfied with the performance. And then of course it’s waiting, waiting, waiting for the other teams to finish [to see] if we made it or not. When you hear that you won it’s such a relief. These are the best wins because you can celebrate all together, also with the staff. We’re really happy that we could deliver after all the work that was put in by all the riders and staff, there’s so many people involved for this day and this special win.
“It’s really nice [to take the leader’s jersey]! Jeroen, the DS came to me before the start and said it would be nice for me to cross line first, and it worked out that way. I feel it more as an honour from the team that I’m the one who can wear the jersey, because I don’t feel like it’s my jersey, it’s the team’s jersey. For me it’s special that the team wants me to wear it.
“My focus was mainly on this TTT, I really wanted to do well here, but of course we have way more goals with the team in this race. There are lots of stages where lots can happen, hopefully some echelons and some action, but it could also be a sprint. For sure the last stage and stage five are really hard for the climbers.”
STAGE RESULT
- Lidl-Trek 9’30”
- Team SD Worx-Protime +0’03”
- Liv-AlUla-Jayco +0’03”
