HTC-Columbia’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg claimed her twenty-first victory of the season on Monday when she crossed the line ahead of the field to win stage one of the Route de France. Teutenberg was the fastest on the 116.4-kilometer stage from Guingamp to Locmine which saw lots of different attacks before the race finally came together.

“It was a very fast-moving stage and it wasn’t ever certain it was going to be a bunch sprint,” said HTC-Columbia sports director Ronny Lauke. “Judith [Arndt, HTC-Columbia] brought back one dangerous move on a last climb, and after that Ina could go for it in the sprint.”

“I wanted to lead out Adrie [Visser, HTC-Columbia] for the sprint but I actually went too hard with 300 meters go and we lost contact,” Teutenberg said later. “I ended up closing a gap on some other riders, and then could hold off [Giorgia] Bronzini [of Italy] to get the win. It was a pretty flat finish, fairly straightforward, but I didn’t feel too great doing the sprint. The sprint hurt a lot more than it usually does. I haven’t raced since the Giro and I was suffering a lot on that last hill. I was about to get dropped.”

A winner of two stages last year in the Route de France, Teutenberg says there are at least two more stages that could end in bunch sprints. “We want to go for GC here, and there’s a time trial on Thursday, where [HTC-Columbia rider] Judith [Arndt] could be going for yellow. So we’ll take it day by day and see how it goes.”