Kirsten Wild adds another win to her palmares with the opening stage of “Energiewacht Tour”
In a repeat of 2013, Kirsten Wild (NED) has won the opening stage of Energiewacht Tour in a sprint from a select front group, finishing off an impressive ride from all the team. The race split early on in crosswinds under the impetus of the team – some research into the parcours early in the race highlighted some exposed open sections and the team rode intelligently at the front to take advantage of this and split the race up. All six riders rode a strong race, and they would all have finished in the front group had an unfortunate crash not taken Julia Soek (NED) out of the leaders. The remaining five kept it together until the end where they set Wild up to unleash her powerful finish in the final few hundred metres and take her seventh win of the season. Read the full race report: here
Kirsten Wild (NED) – “Today was a good day and the whole team were strong, worked well together and in the end we got the result we deserved. The race split up several times but we were always up the front communicating, and in control. “There were four finishing circuits and it was full gas for the first three but then on the last one it calmed down and I was confident for the sprint. Claudia Häusler (GER) lead it out and then Amy Pieters (NED) rode to the final corner. After that I had just under 300m to go to the line which was perfect. “It wasn’t easy but I felt good and the team were strong which is a good sign for the rest of this race.”
Ufficio Stampa Team Giant Shimano