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.

Energiewacht Stage 2 report and results

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg
(now with Lululemon)
(image credit: Gsl 2.0 CC BY-SA 3.0)

As expected on the flat Bad Nieuweschans parcours, today's 107.3km stage was dominated by a group of fast riders who escaped the peloton away early on - and since that break included the likes of Adrie Visser, Iris Slappendel, Annemiek van Vleuten, Marianne Vos and 18 other fast favourites, the rest of the field really had no chance at all of sending a rider up to win this one.

Sofie Verdonck (Dura Vermeer-Zuidwesthoek) and Sandra van Veghal (Specialized-DPD-SRAM) had what looked to be a nasty crash, race organisers later noticing a wing mirror missing from a car parked at the side of the road which seems a likely cause. There's no information on their well-being as of yet, but it'll be added here as soon as possible.

With the 22 leaders off up the road, the field began to break apart as the race progressed and gradually formed into several distinct groups. The second pack arrived at the finish 3'44" behind the leaders, then the third 6'02" with various riders coming in either alone, in pairs or in groups afterwards

Rabobank's Marianne Vos now leads
the General Classification

First over the line Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Specialized-Lululemon), beating Kirsten Wild (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) and Marianne Vos (Rabobank) in a fast and furious sprint - Teutenberg's first win of the year and the latest in what has been a fantastic first season for an already great team. Vos - who only recovered from 'flu a day or two before this race began, remember - now moves into overall leadership.

Top Ten
  1.  Ina Yoko Teutenberg Specialized-Lululemon 02:35:50
  2.  Kirsten Wild AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  3.  Marianne Vos Rabobank ST
  4.  Adrie Visser Skil-Argos ST
  5.  Elizabeth Armitstead AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  6.  Laura Van Der Kamp Dolmans-Boels ST
  7.  Ellen Van Dijk Team Specialized- ululemon ST
  8.  Romy Kasper RusVelo ST
  9.  Annemiek Van Vleuten Rabobank ST
  10.  Trixi Worrack Specialized-Lululemon ST

(Full results when available)

Stage 2

Photos by @ewachttour: Podium / Vos / 1 / 2 / Official stage report

Follow the official race Twitter @ewachttour for details during each stage and information on the race. Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily, today's being at 16:45 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST).

Stage 1 / 2 / 3 / 4a-4b / 5 / Guide / Video Vault