High Road's Judith Arndt took her second win in the Montreal World Cup in three years to extend her current lead in the series. Arndt attacked on the final climb of the race's last circuit and only last year's winner Fabiana Luperini (Menikini) was able to follow. Arndt won the two person sprint to take her second World Cup win this season.
"I love coming to Montreal," explained Arndt before the race, "even though I'm always really tired when I get here [after coming straight from Tour de l‘Aude]. It's a really great race and a great atmosphere."
"Today was hard, especially with the weather and the bumpy roads but our plan was to be aggressive and we did that. Ina [Teutenberg] was out there solo for most of the race and when she got caught, Chantal [Beltman] and Kim [Anderson] attacked."
The race started in pouring rain and was aggressive from the start. High Road's Teutenberg and Kate Bates followed several break attempts early in the race before Teutenberg finally attacked solo on the second climb of the day opening a convincing lead.
With the gap hovering between 30 seconds and a minute over the next six laps, Teutenberg managed to stay away until the climb on lap eight when Luperini attacked. Teutenberg was caught as the bunch shattered to pieces and at the bottom of the descent Anderson attacked. A move which was layer countered by Beltman.
Cervelo Lifeforce continued to chase, along with Specialized rider Emma Pooley and eventually the bunch of only 24 remaining riders came back together.
On the penultimate climb Kristen Armstrong attacked and split the small field again. A group of eight consisting of all the favourites held a small lead over the rest. On the final climb Arndt attacked, taking only Luperini with her. The pair managed to hold off a chase group of six riders to the finish.
"It just goes to show that even in the really hard races of attrition like this, it is still a team effort," commented High Road's director Petra Rossner. "All of the girls were amazing today and racing aggressively paid off for us again."
"It feels really great that we have won three World Cups this year," she added. "It's exciting to be a part of that."
