THE DANISH CHAMPION, WITH THE SUPPORT OF A LARGE MOVISTAR TEAM, OVERCOMES A DIFFICULT INITIAL ESCAPE, ENTERS THE DECISIVE BREAK AND WINS IN SCHMALLN WITH HER MASSIVE POWER. THE FOURTH TRIUMPH OF 2021, 16TH FOR TE MOVISTAR TEAM, NINTH OF THE FEMALE TEAM.
Emma Norsgaard (Movistar Team)
I just needed a triumph to unleash the enormous potential inside. And it seems that once it first arrived e.g. in Luxembourg, the dynamic could only get better. The Danish champion is the first leader of the Thuringen Tour (UCI ProSeries), which started on Tuesday in the east of Germany with 88 km of winding and winding roads around the town of Schmalln.
The race did not exactly go to Norsgaard’s aspirations, as the Telephone Team had to chase hard in the first half of the race to bring about a ten-way escape group, with all the great teams represented. Movistar had been represented too – but then was distance by an incident to the Valencian Alba Teruel. The work of the Spaniard and her companions Gutierrez, Oyarbide, Biannic and Guarischi took effect though and Norsgaard was able to finish joined up with a first group of seventeen cyclists, reduced to nine at the last mountain summit and for whom the sprint triumph was played.
The unstoppable Norsgaard beat Brand (TFS, 2nd) and Kopecky (BEL, 3rd) over the final cobblestones and leads the general classification of an open race with many stages between now and Sunday. For now, the ‘Danish Rocket’ is once again enjoying a yellow jersey like the one that she took in Luxembourg and a triumph, the fourth of her 2021 season, which raises the account of the Telephone (16 for the Abarca Sports structure).
STATEMENTS / Emma Norsgaard:
“This team is amazing. Yes, I know I say it every time when I win, but really, it’s crazy. It is an immense pride that is transmitted to me by all the people of the team, and today even more so. The way they’ve worked out and solved things at that start of the race has been fantastic. Very, very happy. Once I got in there and passed the last level in the head, and the whole end was down, with cobblestones, and the truth is that I was going even in fear for what the arrival was like. 1 km from the end I thought, “Come on, let’s take the head of the group and see if there’s any luck and nobody happens to me.” And that bet was worth it. I do not know whether it is easier to win or not after Luxembourg’s triumphs, but I do know that with such a team, in this spirit, ready to sacrifice the whole for the teammates, it is much easier to achieve triumphs. Now that we have the lead, we’re obviously going to try to defend it and work hard, but I know that with these partners everything is possible. I feel like I have the best possible equipment around me and that’s why I’m not nervous about what’s coming these days.”
Cover image (c): Arne Mill / Photo Gomez Sport