AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step wins team ranking

For the first time the AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step elite team has won a team ranking. Marthe Goossens, Julia Borgström, Ilse Pluimers, Britt Knaven, Romy Kasper and Maaike Boogaard were the best squad in the Bretagne Ladies Tour Ceratizit with Romy as best rider in sixth place.

Sports director Christian Kos saw a young team perform very maturely. “Most of these girls are still young and come from our own development structure. We had a really solid week together. I was impressed how they rode as a team. Julia raced with six stitches in her arm from stage two. Marthe, Britt, Maaike, Ilse and Romy were overall strong and that reflects in the results. Romy finishes strong in the top ten but everyone really contributed to the total and we showed ourselves really well here.”

Ilse, Marthe and Romy all finished in the top 20 with Romy in sixth place as our top rider. She laid the foundation for that result on day one by finishing in the first group.

“I didn’t expect this sixth place in the GC coming into the week,” Romy reacted. “We raced really well as a team. Every day we were a little bit better. We learned from mistakes, gave each other feedback and then improved the next day. In the final stage we were always grouped together to fight for the general classification. The team ranking shows we were all very good in the time trial as well. That was the foundation. It was a nice week with great staff. We now give over to our Spanish group in Durango and Burgos. Most of the riders from Bretagne join me in Thüringen Rundfahrt in ten days so I am looking forward to my home race.”