Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini finished fourth in a disrupted sprint finish at the end of the second and final stage of the Festival Luxembourgeois du Cyclisme Féminin Elsy Jacobs - the GP Nicolas Frantz - in Marmer, Luxembourg, as a crashing rider forced the former two-time road World champion to brake in the final few hundred metres.
The final corner, where Bronzini was injured in a crash at the end of a previous edition of the race, saw current World Champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv) take the lead and the Dutchwoman held on to win the stage.
Unfortunately, Vos’ teammate, Netherlands champion Lucinda Brand, crashed, causing Bronzini to check her sprint, and so the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling rider was beaten to the stage’s final two podium places by Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) and Julie Leth (Hitec Products).
“In the end we arrived in a big bunch and there was a corner in the last 400 metres which is pretty dangerous,” Bronzini explained. “I know this corner because one time I broke my shoulder on there!
“Only Vos can take that kind of corner flying, but I tried to stay in the line in about fourth position. But one girl crashed. I wasn’t in the crash, but I had to break hard, so I started with low, low speed. I lost the wheel and it was impossible to catch it again.
“Only fourth place today, but anyway we are safe and we are happy for that. I knew that it would be a strange final, so it’s better that we were safe at the end.”
The 99km stage - which was made up of a long 54km loop, followed by five laps of a 9km circuit - saw several attempts to escape the peloton, with a late escape featuring Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Peta Mullens. The bunch came together for the finish, however, but the final corner proved disruptive enough to prevent Bronzini from sprinting to her full capabilities.
The 30-year-old Italian is confident of her form ahead of next week’s Women’s Tour in the UK, however.
“Tomorrow I will take a little break and recover for the next days,” Bronzini confirmed.
Result
1. Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv)
2. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS)
3. Julie Leth (Hitec Products)
4. Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling)
