The Israel – Premier Tech Roland riders put on an impressive show in Wednesday’s Navarra Women’s Elite Classic as Tamara Dronova soloed to second place with Elena Pirrone in sixth after a long day in the breakaway.
“It was a great day for us! With Elena in the break, I could just sit back in the peloton and wait for the attacks in the final”, Dronova said after the race.
When the initial breakaway of 15 riders got down to just four riders, Pirrone was still in the mix and for a while, it looked like the quartet might be able to race for the win. However, towards the end, the gap came tumbling down as the main favorites upped the pace in the chase group.
“We worked well together up front but the strong winds made it extra hard on the challenging course. When the main bunch caught me, I gave it my all to help Tamara”, Pirrone explained.
Always being kept in a good position near the front, Dronova was quick to react to the dangerous moves and on the very last climb, she was ever so close to following Riejanne Markus (Team Jumbo-Visma) over the top. Instead, Dronova was left to chase on her own with just under 10 km to go and she fought admirably to keep the chase group behind her to take second place after Markus.
“When the main group broke up on the final climb, I went on my own and it worked out to make the podium. I really want to thank the team for their excellent work today”, Dronova said.
Despite her long and hard day in the breakaway, Pirrone still managed to hold on to finish with the chasers and sprint to sixth place, finishing off a strong performance by her and the entire team in Navarra Women’s Elite Classic.
“It was a fun day today. It was really nice to be at the front again and I’m also quite happy with my sprint after being caught. I gave everything I had today and I hope this is the first of many good performances going forward”, the Italian said after the race.
