As an international cycling team, you want to race a lot of races and everyone of them is unique. However, racing a World Tour race in your home country is a bit extra special. This week is that week, as the Ladies Tour of Norway is on the program. Team Hitec Products – Birk Sport wil race it with five Norwegian riders in it’s team. On Thursday the four days stage race will start in Åsgårdstrand.
Only a bit more than a week after her third place at the European championships, Lonneke Uneken took her first podium place in a one day UCI-race this Saturday. In the Flanders Ladies Classic she was the fastest in the peloton sprint. However, with Julie van de Velde (Lotto-Soudal) and Sofie de Vuyst (Parkhotel Valkenburg), two riders stayed ahead of the first group.
Team Hitec Products – Birk Sport are happy to announce that four Norwegian talents have re-signed their contracts and will also be part of the team in 2020. Ingvild Gaskjenn (21), Amalie Lutro (19), Pernille Feldmann (19) and Thale Kielland Bjerk (18) are the four talented Norwegian riders that already have been part of the team this season. The team sees their development and wants to keep working on that, together with the riders.
With a strong sprint, Lonneke Uneken has won the bronze medal at the European championships. In the race for women U23 the Italian Letizia Paternoster and Marta Lach from Poland were the only two that were faster. Ingvild Gaskjenn also showed herself, sprinting to a sixth place. Amalie Lutro (25th) and Pernille Feldmann (44th) did a strong lead-out for her.
With a strong ride, Vita Heine took the fourth place in the individual time trial of the European championships this Thursday. After 22.4 kilometers, the Norwegian rider of Team Hitec Products – Birk Sport came only two seconds short for a podium place. However, Vita defeated some very strong riders. “I am very happy, even though I missed the podium with just one or two seconds.”
She was already really close before, but now it really happened. In the French two days stage race Tour de Belle Isle en Terre – Kreiz Breizh Elites Dames, Ingvild Gaskjenn raced to her first UCI-podium in her career. Not one time, but two. On Thursday Ingvild sprinted to a third place in an uphill sprint on the first stage. The second and last stage ended with a flat sprint and in that Ingvild finished ninth. That was enough to also take the third place in the general classification.