Ruth Edwards sprinted to third at the Trofeo Oro in Euro in Italy, claiming her first podium on her return to professional cycling, 902 days after her last.
“It feels really good because I’ve had a couple of crashes in the last few weeks, so it was very encouraging to have a good race,” Edwards said. “The team rode so well and that was really motivating to have them up there encouraging me and putting me in the position to be strong on the climb.”
Edwards made a select group on the final climb of the seven-lap circuit around Cinquale chasing race winner Elisa Longo Borghini.
“I was really trying to motivate our group,” she added. “Elisa is a really strong rider so I told them that we have to move right away so trying to get that group together was both frustrating and fun, that’s racing.”
Just like at the Deakins University Road Race in Australia, the 30-year-old timed her finishing kick well but was pipped to the line by Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) who was able to rest up in the finale thanks to having a teammate in the group.
Behind, Katia Ragusa, Henrietta Christie and Yuliia Biriukova finished strongly in the chasing peloton.
“It was a stressful peloton but having my teammates was race saving,” explained Edwards. “The girls were awesome with positioning so that helped me remain calm until the racing really kicked off.”
Next up, the team returns to the heartland of the Classics for Drentse Acht van Westerveld and Ronde van Drenthe in the Netherlands next weekend.
Trofeo Oro in Euro results
1 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa – Lidl – Trek 2:34:54
2 SWINKELS Karlijn – UAE Team ADQ 0:32
3 EDWARDS Ruth – Human Powered Health ”
4 BEGO Julie – Cofidis Women Team ”
5 CADZOW Kim – EF Education-Cannondale ”
6 MAGNALDI Erica – UAE Team ADQ ”
7 NOSKOVÁ Nikola – Cofidis Women Team 0:39
8 PERSICO Silvia – UAE Team ADQ 1:39
9 ANDERSON Solbjørk Minke – Uno-X Mobility ”
10 REALINI Gaia – Lidl – Trek ”
