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There was a cold and wet day for the 130 riders who started in 0 C in Hoogeveen in the first world cup race of the year. With a lot of wind and bad slippery coble sections it was a fight for positions and constant avoiding all the crashes. The peleton broke in smaller groups several times, but came back over and over again. There was also some breakaway attempts, but the stronger teams was not happy with the situation and at the end there was a peleton of about 35 riders left who  entered the “Vam berg” for the 3^rd and last time.

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Emma Johansson:

–  At last passage finish line at about 25km to go, Marianna Vos with others and myself went down in a small crash. It was not so serious, but I broke my back “derieur” and I could just change my front chain ring. This  forcing me to ride 39-11 or  53-11. As there was no car there at the moment and the last climb coming up, I made the decision to go “all in” and try to survive as good as I could.

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In “Vam berg” 13 km from the finish, the world champion, Marianne Vos attacked hard, getting a gap directly to a peleton who broke up in small groups. The only rider managed to chase was Ellan Van Dijk.

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Emma Johansson:

– On Vam berg the last time I thought it was over. With my broken bike I could not change gears and went way to heavy, finish on the top in about 20st position. So I just had one thing to do… try to catch the two breakaway riders in the front.

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Ellen Van Dijk caught Marianne Vos and they worked good together the last 6-7km. Emma had the gap down to 12sec but could not come any closer.

At the finish she was 15sec behind the two and ended 3^rd, her 5^th “bronze finish” in a row.

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Emma Johansson:

– It was frustrating, as I felt good and almost had them in sight. I feel my condition is growing and try to comfort myself with that. Today I had a lot of help from my ORICA-AIS team and they rode well, covering every move. Tomorrow is another race… if it will not be canceled as they give snow tonight!

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