Audrey Cordon-Ragot sprinted to second place behind Marianne Vos in the Postnord Vargarda WestSweden road race and later declared the winner after Vos was disqualified. The race jury's decision was for Vos's illegal bike position during the race.
It was not the way Cordon-Ragot envisioned winning her first WorldTour race, and never easy to accept the accolades when it happens in this manner. Aside from how to rightfully celebrate the unexpected win, Trek-Segafredo's effort was deserving of victory, animating the race from start to finish.
The key selection was made when Team drove a searing pace into the climb on the penultimate lap, and after successive numerous attacks, Cordon-Ragot created the winning move. Three riders joined her, one being the always attentive Vos.
The quartet held a small lead for the final lap. The reduced bunch gave a furious chase but was unable to catch the four leaders. Cordon-Ragot jumped first in the sprint, but Vos's insurmountable speed proved too much - that is, until the unexpected news was released 20 minutes later. Vos was disqualified from the race, giving the win to a surprised Cordon-Ragot.
Audrey Cordon-Ragot:
“To be honest, I have a mixed feeling. I’m super happy for the race I did, super proud of the performance of my teammates. We showed our strength with an amazing teamwork and my role was to finalize the huge work they did. That, for me, was the most important thing happened today and what I’ll retain from the race.,
“On the other side, it’s a strange situation. After the finish line I was happy for my second place, and I am still proud of it. I had no regrets because I was beat by the strongest rider in the peloton at the moment. I was definitely not embarrassed to be second. But then I was told I was the winner and my name will be on the palmares. Chapeau to Marianne, because she was the first who recognized that a rule is rule and accepted the sanction.
“I feel this day, with my good performance and the win, even if unexpected, it’s a good reward for the efforts and sacrifices I did since the beginning of the year. Winning or not, I feel today it’s a day to enjoy. I’m not proud and happy because I won, but because me and my team rode strong.
“In the briefing of the morning we agreed that we would need an aggressive approach to have a chance for a win against strong and on form competitors like Vos and Wiebes. We needed to play a different strategy. I think we did an amazing job to make it happen. Every lap of the final circuit we attacked, with Ellen and me waiting until the lasts laps.
“In the second to last lap, we decided to force the pace on the climb to make a real selection. And we did it very well. The teamwork put me and Ellen in a small group with the best riders. We kept attacking, first Ellen and then my attempt was the right one to select again the leading group. I found myself in the breakaway with Marianne and we cooperated well to keep the gap with the peloton, unlike Georgi and Demay who just followed our wheels.
“The attack of Georgi in the last kilometers dropped Demay so, at the end, it was three riders for the sprint. In the meters before launching the sprint, I tried to keep Vos closed. To be honest, I thought that was my only way to have a chance against her… but Marianne is Marianne, and she won.
“The rest of the history, after the finish line, is already known.”
