Lisa Brennauer has taken Stage 1 at Thüringen Rundfahrt. ©BrakeThrough Media
Gotha, Germany, 17 July 2015 - Lisa Brennauer has won a bunch sprint on the opening stage of Thüringen Rundfahrt in Gotha this evening. The short 66.6 kilometre Stage One saw Brennauer sprint to victory, with Lotta Lepistor (Bigla Cycling) second and Emily Collins (Tibco) in third place.
Several attacks happened on the short stage, and at one point an eight rider break with Velocio-SRAM rider Mieke Kroeger looked like it could have the chance to stay away. But the peloton came together and it was the sprint strength of Brennauer that shone. Trixi Worrack said, "There was a queen of the mountain sprint at 63 kilometres and after that it was a fast downhill to the finish. We really didn't need to do a lead out for Lisa because she was in good position. Going into the last corner she was second and on the cobblestone finish she waited for some time before she opened the sprint. I could see she won easily."
Team Director Ronny Lauke was impressed in the results today. "I think that is a very good opening for the team. We hope that we can continue with such success throughout the week and let's see what happens."
Brennauer's team mate Elise Delzenne will wear the Mountains Jersey in tomorrow's Stage Two after taking the Queen of the Mountain points today. The 103.3 kilometre undulating course will be raced around Erfurt, the capital city of Thüringen starting at 3pm.