2013 Specialized–lululemon season

In early January, Trixi Worrack won the German national cyclo-cross championships.[5]

February and March were two great months for Ellen van Dijk. After finishing third in the Ladies Tour of Qatar she won the first prestigious road victory of the season, Le Samyn des Samyn at the end of February. She escaped from the bunch with 35 km to go and finished three minutes ahead of the chasing group.[6] In early March, during the Ronde van Drenthe, she went on a breakaway with Marianne Vos. Van Dijk lost the side by side sprint and finished second.[7] In the second World Cup race the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, she finished again on the podium, this time in third place.[8] Finally, in late March, she finished second in the Tour of Flanders behind Marianne Vos again. Vos, Emma Johansson and Elisa Longo Borghine escaped on the Karemont, but Van Dijk was able to close the gap. Finally, the four women sprinted for victory. Ellen regretted that she was not able to outsprint Vos.[9]

In March, at the Drenste 8 Ina-Yoko Teutenberg had a serious crash. She has a concussion and was not able to start in the spring classics. She did not recover as fast as she hoped and decided in June not to start anymore the season because she was not able to train in a proper way.[10][11][12] Evelyn Stevens was not able to defend her title at the Flèche Wallonne due to a fall at the Classica Citta di Padova. She had broken teeth and numerous wounds.[13] Ellen van Dijk finished sixth. Katie Colclough escaped in the final but was pulled back.[14]

Ellen van Dijk won begin April, the general classification of the Energiewacht Tour. She won the individual time trial stage over 21.1 km and finished twice second in a stages. The Gracia-Orlová was also really successful for the team at the end of April. Van Dijk won the general classification again together with the points classification, the prologue, stage 2 and stage 3. The other two stages were won by her teammates Evelyn Stevens (stage 3) and Loren Rowney (stage 5).[15]

On 20 May, Carmen Small won Chrono Gatineau, and five days later the American time trial championship.[16][17]

In June, Evelyn Stevens returned in the peloton. She won the Philadelphia Cycling Classic, and later on a stage and the final classification of the Giro del Trentino Alto Adige[18]

At the end of the month the national championships took place and the team won three titles. Ellen van Dijk won the Dutch national time trial title, Lisa Brennauer won the German time trial title and Trixi Worrack the German road race title. Therefore, the team started the Giro Rosa with big ambitions. Evelyn Stevens, the leader of the team, was in the general classification in second place after the fourth stage, but finished tenth in the fifth stage and lost 3' 55" to Abbott. The day afterwards she finished in fifth place and lost 1' 32". On the final day Ellen van Dijk won the time trial stage. Stevens finished behind Van Dijk second and finished in fifth place overall. The Giro was won in the end by Mara Abbott.[19][20]

In July, in the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen, Carmen Small won the sprint of the second stage.[21] In the fourth stage, an individual time trial, Ellen van Dijk finished second behind Shara Gillow.[22] Lisa Brennauer finished second in the last stage and third in the general classification.[23]

Ellen van Dijk won the time trial world championships

The second grand tour started at 3 August: La Route de France. Specialized–lululemon did not start in this race, but two riders were part of the American national team, Evelyn Stevens and Ally Stacher.[24] Stevens finished fifth in the prologue. After six stages won by Giorgia Bronzini in the sprints, the last stage was disputed. Stevens attacked in a difficult ascent, Linda Villumsen, former rider of the team between 2007 and 2010, chased her down and extended her lead. She finished with a lead of over 5 minutes and won also the general classification. Stevens was caught by the chasing group and with the difference made in the prologue she finished in third place.[25][26]

At the Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT world cup race the team showed once again its supremacy in the team time trial. In the Open de Suède Vårgårda road race, there was a front group of 10 riders with Evelyn Stevens and Ellen van Dijk. After an attack by Marianne Vos, there were only six riders left with the two from Specialized–lululemon. Stevens went all out in the final kilometres, but was pulled back. Van Dijk finished fourth after a great team effort and Stevens finished sixth.[27]

In the Lotto–Belisol Belgium Tour the team won the inaugural team time trial. Lisa Brennauer finished second in the third stage. Ellen van Dijk finished third in the last stage uphill in Geraardsbergen and ensured her third stage race victory of the season, with Brennauer finishing in second place.[28]

The team won at the World Championships the team time trial. From left to right: (back) Ronny Lauke, van Dijk, Stevens, (front) Brennauer, Small, Worrack and Colclough

The Boels Rental Ladies Tour took place in early September. Trixi Worrack finished third in the first stage. After the team won the team time trial of the second stage, Worrack took the overall lead and kept the leading jersey until the last stage.[29] After a hectic last stage, it was Ellen van Dijk, who was in second place four seconds behind Worrack, who won the stage race. Worrack finished ultimately in sixth place.[30][31]

The Giro della Toscana Int. Femminile, renamed this year as the "pre worlds" because of the World Championships taking place in Tuscany, did not bring notable results for the team.[32] In the individual time trial, one of the main goals for the team this season, the team took the world title with an average speed of 51 km/h and over a minute ahead of the Rabobank–Liv Giant. The composition of the team was: Trixi Worrack, Ellen van Dijk, Evelyn Stevens, Carmen Small, Katie Colclough and Lisa Brennauer. They expressed great joy after winning.[33][34] The team was, as in 2012, undefeated in the team time trial in the 2013 season.

Thereafter, the team members joined their respective national selection. In the individual time trial, Ellen van Dijk won the world title. She said upon arrival that it is a dream come true and that it is the result of a conscientious preparation with numerous reconnaissances of the course. She filmed the course to watch it over and over to know it by heart and to know the bends.[35] In the same event, Small won the bronze medal, Steven finished fourth only 4 hundredths of a second from Small, Trixi Worrack finished fifth and Lisa Brennauer eleventh.[36][37]

In the road race, Stevens was the only member of the team who was in the front group with the main favourites and finished fifth.[38]

At the 2013 UCI Women's Road World Cup, Ellen van Dijk finished 3rd in the final classification and Evelyn Stevens 10th. The team finished 3rd in the teams standing.[40]

Results at the 2013 World Cup races[40]

Date	#	Race	Best rider	Place
9 March	1	Ronde van Drenthe	Ellen van Dijk	2nd
24 March	2	Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio	Ellen van Dijk	3rd
31 March	3	Tour of Flanders	Ellen van Dijk	2nd
17 April	4	La Flèche Wallonne Féminine	Ellen van Dijk	6th
12 May	5	Tour of Chongming Island	-	-
16 August	6	Open de Suède Vårgårda TTT	Specialized–lululemon	1st
18 August	7	Open de Suède Vårgårda	Ellen van Dijk	4th
31 August	8	GP de Plouay	Evelyn Stevens	20th
Final individual classification			Evelyn Stevens	4th
Final team classification			Specialized–lululemon	3rd

Results at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships

Date	Race	Best rider	Place
22 September	UCI Road World Championships – Women's team time trial	Specialized–lululemon	1st
24 September	UCI Road World Championships – Women's time trial[M 1]	-	-
28 September	UCI Road World Championships – Women's road race[M 2]	Lizzie Armitstead	19th