HTC-Columbia’s Adrie Visser has blasted to her first victory for the team in the Thuringen Rundfahrt stage race in Germany on Thursday. Visser was the fastest in a small group sprint that decided stage three of the race, a 128.7-kilometre circuit starting and finishing in Greiz.

“I’m feeling a lot more confident about my sprinting recently and that’s made all the difference,” said Visser. [HTC-ColUmbia teammate] Ellen Van Dijk has given me some great leadouts recently and that’s really helped, I’ve won field sprints here behind breakaways after up to 130 kilometres racing. Today I was away in a group of 11 with [teammates] Luise [Keller] and Noemi Cantele, so we were in a very good position strategically. It was a tough day, with maybe 1800 metres of climbing in total, but after doing well in the previous stages, I felt good.”

“Luise attacked 1500 metres from the line, then Noemi led me through the pack from 500 metres to 200 metres to go. After that all hard work all I had to do was lift myself out of the saddle and use all the power I’ve got to get the win.”

“It’s my first win as an HTC-Columbia rider and it’s a very good feeling finally to get that victorY, added Visser. “Now we’ll see what Noemi can do in the overall. She’s third overall and with tomorrow’s 19-kilometre time trial and two more tough days after that, I think she’s got a good chance.”

Visser’s win is the 34th for HTC-Columbia women’s team this season.