Boels Dolmans win Crescent Vargarda team time trial

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Boels Dolmans successfully defended its team time trial at Crescent Vargarda on Friday, taking the win by 12 seconds over runners-up Ceverlo Bigla and 50 seconds over Canyon SRAM. The reigning world champions posted the fastest time at both intermediate splits en route to the quickest time over the 43-kilometre course, setting the mark to beat at 52:39.

“This team time trial is very important,” said Chantal Blaak, who led Boels-Dolmans across the finish line. “The Worlds course is kind of the same – up and down – and it’s a similar distance. Today was a good test, and the only real test before Worlds to see what went right and where we need to improve."

The 43km race took place on rolling roads with several sweeping turns and a few sharper corners. The course is a familiar one – used since the first edition of the Vårgårda team time trial in 2009.

“It was very windy today,” Blaak said. “We had a headwind on the way back. It felt like you were riding into a wall when you came on the front. It was super hard, but it also played to our strength. We have a lot of strong motors in this team.

“We all used all our strengths. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses, and we know that about each other. We make each other stronger as a unit.”

Results