Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo-Raxy Line was the first of the thirteen teams to set off due to its lowly position on the World Cup overall standings. The team returned with a time of 44:27.5, giving the others something to aim at. Third team to start, Norway, caught its Scandinavian rival Finland in the closing stages to take more than a minute off the Top Girls time with 43:13.7. The first really fast time was posted by the Vrienden Van Het Platteland team, pushing it closer to the 40 minute mark with 40:52.9. The very next team, Flexpoint pushed it still lower though with 40:26.4. Despite being outstanding favourites, the Cervelo-Lifeforce team was – because of its position in the World Cup standings – fourth from last to go. The team blitzed around the course knocking all but a minute and a half off the Flexpoint time with an incredible 38:26.7. The last two teams to go – Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung and Columbia – were the only ones who looked capable of besting the Cervelo-Lifeforce time, but although they were both faster than Flexpoint, neither were able to come within a minute of the Swiss team. Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung finished three seconds quicker than flexpoint to take a provisional second place, but Columbia were consistently faster all the way around and pushed them into third.
