Emakumeen Bira 2012 Stage 2

Emma Pooley

Emma Pooley (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) wins after ecaping a strong break, with whom she'd spent much of the race, around 10km from the end of the 97.8km stage. Noticeably fresher than her rivals at the top of the Category 2 ascent ending 79km into the parcours, the British rider regained all the strength she needed to enjoy a serious advantage as she put her climbing abilities to work on the last Cat 3 and, by the time she reached the top, was ready to ride alone over the remaining 7.3km to the finish line.

With Pooley's team mates Lucinda Brannd, Lizzie Armitstead and Sharon Laws snapping up seventh, eighth and tenth places, it's been a very good day for the squad indeed - they lead the teams classification, their total elapsed time being  15h16'25" to second place GreenEDGE-AIS' 15h17'08".

Emma Johansson rode superbly for fourth place, but the race isn't going quite so well for her team - the further nineteen riders to abandon the race today leaves Hitec Products with only her and Christel Ferrier, who was 17th today. Both women are immensely strong and capable riders, but they're now hopelessly outnumbered and highly susceptible prey to the other team's tactics.

Emma Johansson ‏@emmaprocyclistSo much fun today! Loved the stage and the beautiful roads around here... #4th #Bira #tt2mrw

Top Ten
   1º 141  POOLEY, Emma AA DRINK-LEONTIEN.NL     2h35'31"    
   2º   1  V. VLEUTEN, Annemiek RABOBANK +20"      
   3º  13  WORRACK, Trixi SPECIALIZED LULULEMON +20"     
   4º  21  JOHANSSON, Emma HITEC PRODUCTS     +20" 
   5º 123  AMIALIUSIK, Alena BE PINK              +20"     
   6º 102  HAUSLER, Claudia  GREENEDGE-AIS        +20"     
   7º 142  BRAND, Lucinda AA DRINK-LEONTIEN.NL    +20"   
   8º 144  AMITSTEAD, Lizzie AA DRINK-LEONTIEN.NL    +20"     
   9º 101  ARNDT, Judith GREENEDGE-AIS        +20"      
  10º 145  LAWS, Sharon AA DRINK-LEONTIEN.NL    +20"
(Full results)

Worrack leads on points with 35, followed by Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank) with 34 and Pooley with 25. Pooley leads the Queen of the Mountains competition with 12 points, Ferrier follows with nine and Brand is third with 4. Valentina Scandolara (Michela Fanini) has the most intermediate sprint points, 15, Gracie Elvin (Australia) is second with six and Romy Kasper (Germany) third with five.

Tomorrow, the remaining riders face a 13.4km individual time trial at Urduña.