Belgian National Team wins inaugural Team Time Trial, Van Sinaey takes Yellow
They completed the 12.5-kilometer course, which both started and finished in Krásná Lípa, in a time of 18 minutes and 40 seconds, beating the Polish MAT Atom squad by 12 seconds. Xaydee Van Sinaey will wear the yellow jersey.
A total of 162 riders from 23 countries and 28 teams took the start of the opening stage, which featured 244 meters of elevation gain. Among them were 103 debutants and 18 Czech riders. The local contingent included the Czech national team, Dukla Praha, and the VIF formation (which includes 2022 overall bronze medalist Eliška Kvasničková), with Denisa Slámová and Barbora Nývltová riding for Torelli and Cycle Capital respectively.
Van Sinaey, who finished third overall at last year’s Tour de Feminin, proved to be the leader of her team. As the first rider from the classified trio to cross the finish line, she will don the yellow jersey for Friday’s second stage — the first mass-start stage.
“I’m incredibly happy — I gave myself a birthday present for my 20th on Friday,” she said.
“I know the roads around Krásná Lípa well. I raced here successfully last year. Today it was a bit wet and windy, but I really like it here,” the Belgian rider added at the finish of the opening stage of the 36th edition of the race.
Her goal now is to hold onto the yellow jersey as long as possible.
“We have a very strong team here,” said the rider, who also claimed the white jersey for the best under-23 rider.
The green jersey for the points classification will be worn in Friday’s stage by the fastest rider from the second-placed team in the time trial — Poland’s Olga Wankiewicz of MAT Atom Deweloper Wroclaw. The polka-dot jersey for the best climber will go to her compatriot Karolina Kumiega, who rides for Belgian squad KDM-Pack, the third-best team in the time trial. The best Czech rider so far is the current national champion, Barbora Němcová, who sits 50th in the general classification.
Friday’s Stage: Through Bohemian Switzerland National Park
Stage two, titled Through the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, will once again start and finish in Krásná Lípa. The 121.5 km route includes five categorized climbs and two intermediate sprints. The race continues on Saturday with a stage in Rumburk and concludes the following day with a start in Varnsdorf and a finish in Krásná Lípa.
foto: Jakub Trmal
