Three-time individual time trial World Champion Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) proved unbeatable in her specialty and won the opening stage of the Tour de Normandie Féminin on Thursday.
She took the hot seat after 62 other riders completed the 10.3km course in a time of 13:32 and secured a second ITT win in two efforts this season. She took the first leader’s jersey for the four-day stage race.
The Visma-Lease a Bike duo of Riejanne Markus and Lieke Nooijen completed the podium, with Markus 19 seconds back and Nooijen 24 seconds back.
The Lidl-Trek rider recently returned to racing after taking 18 months away from the sport to give birth to her first child. In her first event this season at Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, Van Dijk won the 17.2km time trial and finished sixth in the overall.
The 10.3km route took riders on a counter-clockwise circuit on the west side of Bagnoles-de-l’Orne, with the sharpest climb in the opening 500 metres followed by a series of two tight corners on the sloping descent. The course provided for long, flat stretches, with only four 90-degree turns over the middle sections and a series of technical turns in the final kilometre.
The first rider to complete the course was Britain Tamsin Miller (DAS-Handsling Bikes), who set the marker of 14:24.
Before Van Dijk exploded across the course, Marion Borras (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) went into the hot seat with a time of 14:02. Twenty-one-year-old Daniel Hengeveld (Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL) rode in a time of 14:05 and the duo would only see three other riders set faster times.
French TT champion and 2023 Normandie winner Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) finished sixth, 39 seconds down on Van Dijk.
The Tour de Normandie Féminin introduced an individual time trial for the first time this year for the second edition of the stage race, expanding from three to four days. Friday’s stage 2 takes in 138.2km from Le Neubourge to Pavilly.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets
After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59
Join now for unlimited access
Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
-
Gent-Wevelgem live: Will Van der Poel add another win to his palmares?
All the action from the 253.1km race between Ypres and Wevelgem -
Volta a Catalunya stage 7 live - A hilly finale in Barcelona
Tadej Pogacar races towards dominant overall victory to round off week of wins -
Larry Warbasse wants to 'help Ben O'Connor make the Giro d'Italia podium'
US veteran plans a return to Italian Grand Tour for the sixth time in his career -
‘Another step forward’ - progress for Egan Bernal at Volta a Catalunya moving to third overall
Late break with Mikel Landa nets Colombian runner-up spot on brutally-difficult mountain stage
