At the sign-in for stage 1 of the ExperienceLondon Classique in Saffron Walden, Rebecca Koerner (Uno-X Mobility) was simple to identify within the red-and-white jersey of the Danish nationwide champion. The 23-year-old will put on a unique jersey on stage 2, although: She went into the breakaway and gained all three QOM sprints, placing her within the orange-and-blue QOM jersey.
“We needed to have an aggressive race and be out entrance with no less than one rider. Luckily, I used to be the one who bought to get away. I’ve actually been trying ahead to entering into an actual breakaway, and immediately I succeeded, so I’m actually completely happy,” Koerner stated within the post-stage interview.
She and Lea Lin Teutenberg (Ceratizit-WNT) bought away very early within the 159.2-kilometre stage and cut up the QOM and dash factors between themselves, sharing the workload on their journey of 140km earlier than being caught with 16.5km to go.
“It would have been higher to have extra folks on the market, however the two of us cooperated effectively, and we had a pleasant day collectively. In the top, I managed to get what I got here for, I’m completely happy about that,” Koerner stated about her day forward of the pack on the Essex roads.
The Dane is one other lateral entrant into ladies’s biking: In her youth, she practiced excessive diving and had gained three Danish championships at age 18.
But after injuring her hip and again when she fell badly within the diving pool, she switched to highway biking, shopping for her first race bike in 2019.
Koerner spent the subsequent two seasons with the well-known Copenhagen biking membership ABC (Arbejdernes Bicycle Club). In 2021, she took six home victories within the red-white-blue equipment, together with a stage and the GC within the prestigious Randers Bike Week, and was chosen for the World Championships.
For 2022, Koerner signed with the Uno-X Pro Cycling Team, nonetheless her present squad, and in 2023, she gained the Danish highway championships from an early breakaway, ending with a 32-kilometre solo.
Looking forward to Saturday, Koerner hopes to defend her new orange-and-blue jersey.
“It could be good to maintain the jersey additionally after tomorrow, however we must see how the stage goes tomorrow,” she stated.
There aren’t any QOMs on the ultimate stage within the centre of London, and stage 2 has the identical variety of QOMs as stage 1. This implies that even when somebody had been to win all stage 2 QOMs, they might at most draw equal to Koerner, placing the GC place into play as a tiebreaker.
Koerner misplaced 20 seconds on the uphill end in Colchester and is 54th total, 22 seconds behind stage winner Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), and the QOM classification may even come right down to bonus seconds on the intermediate dash in London. But if Koerner manages to grab only one QOM level on stage 2, she solely has to complete the race to win the orange jersey.
