Judith Arndt in the leaders jersey
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At the Tour de L'Aude, the women's squad took a noteable victory in the team time trial at Argeles-sur-Mer on Sunday - enough to propel German Judith Arndt into the overall lead.
Arndt now leads by just one second over team-mate Linda Villumsen, with her closest rival, American Amber Neben, in third place just nine seconds back.
“It was too close a call in the team time trial to be sure of the win at first.” team manager Anna Wilson told Giant's website after her team had picked up T-Mobile's 19th win of the season." “Twice we took wrong turnings because the route contained dozens of roundabouts and we were misdirected, losing Judith once and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg a second time.We had to wait for Judith, losing 15 seconds, and I had to take the decision to let Ina-Yoko come in at her own speed. But it wasn't easy. On top of that, it was very exposed, with really strong cross-winds, so there were no hiding places. That all made winning very complicated.”
Finally T-Mobile came home with a 5.5 second advantage over their closest rival, Flexpoint, in the 41.6 kilometre course. “We've got an advantage now, and we'll hold that for as long as possible. Having two riders ahead, one of whom [Arndt] has already won the Tour de L'Aude, is a great plus.” Wilson added. “On Wednesday there's a stage with an 1800 metre climb, which will really sort things out. After that, we'll see where we go. But for now, in any case, we can only be satisfied with what we've acheived.”
The team also have the young rider's jersey with the Dane Linda and the mountain jersey with American Kim Anderson .
Giant's other women's professional Team - Giant Pro Team from China are also competing at the Tour of L'Aude and are gaininig valuable racing experience as they compete with the best of the world's riders.
Bry
