Elise Chabbey narrowly misses out on Ceratizit Challenge stage win
Canyon-SRAM among teams still chasing a Women’s WorldTour victory
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Had Elise Chabbey won stage 3 of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, it would have been Canyon-SRAM’s first Women’s WorldTour win in a year that has so far produced only one victory for the German team.
Instead, the Swiss rider was pipped at the line by breakaway companion Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope), and Canyon-SRAM once again missed out on an all-important win.
After initiating the attack that saw the winning move go away, Chabbey worked well with Brown to hold their lead to the line, but couldn’t quite stay in front of the Australian in the final meters.
As a result, Canyon-SRAM remain without a WorldTour win in 2022, and their chances are becoming fewer and fewer. Only five WorldTour race days are left this season — the two final days of the Ceratizit Challenge and three stages of the new Tour de Romandie in October.
Despite always being in the action, Canyon-SRAM has only won one UCI race of any kind this season, when Pauliena Rooijakkers took victory at the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria in May.
Read also: Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta: Grace Brown wins stage 3 from late move
As one of the longest-running teams in the peloton and one of the eight original WorldTeams, to complete a season without a win at the highest level may be a cause for concern.
Wins are not the sole measure of success, however, and the team has been successful in other ways in 2022: Kasia Niewiadoma finished on the podium of the Tour de France Femmes, where the team also took the team classification, and the squad has placed riders in the top-three of WorldTour races throughout the season.
Canyon-SRAM may therefore have better results than other teams, but they are among a list of only six WorldTeams not to take a WWT win yet this season.
Oh so close! 2nd place to @e_chabbey.
#CERATIZITchallenge22 pic.twitter.com/xUo5EUq0Iw— CANYON//SRAM Racing & CANYON//SRAM Generation (@WMNcycling) September 9, 2022
Of those six, four were new entrants to the WorldTour in 2022, leaving only Canyon-SRAM and Liv Racing Xstra as the previously-existing WorldTeams to still be missing a big win.
While Canyon-SRAM’s elite team continues to chase down a win, their development team Canyon-SRAM Generation are having a better run of results, taking victory on stage 3 and the overall lead of the Tour de l’Ardèche with Antonia Niedermaier on Friday.