LIZZIE Armitstead will be striving to retain her lead in the women's World Cup in Germany on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Otley rider, who was fourth in La Course on the final day of the Tour de France in Paris last Sunday, is bidding to retain the crown she won last year.

And her Boels-Dolmans team have made it clear that they will do all they can to help her in the Sparkassen Giro at Bochum.

The goal is clear, as far as her team manager Danny Stam is concerned. He said: “ The race will probably end in a bunch sprint.

"We hope Lizzie Armitstead will be ready to collect as many points as possible in the sprint to hold on to her jersey as World Cup leader.

" It would be great if that gets her on the podium, that should be possible. I know Christine Majerus did well also in this race in the past – she won in 2013 – but we have to make a clear choice and that is to defend the leader's jersey of Lizzie.

"It is not like we want to have a sprint, it would be better when a small group gets away with Lizzie in it, but I don’t think that will happen on the flat city circuit in Bochum.”

Chantal Blaak, Kasia Pawlowska, Christine Majerus, Romy Kasper and Demi de Jong will be supporting Armitstead who was content with her fourth place in the second edition of La Course.

A daring solo escape saw Dutchwoman Anna van der Breggen (RaboLiv) triumph in a race that was punctuated by crashes and took place in torrential rain. Jolien D'Hoore (Wiggle Honda) second and Amy Pieters (Liv-Plantur) third.

"Anna made the perfect move at the right time," Armitstead said. "She has the French world champion (Pauline Ferrand-Prevot) and the teams watched her instead. Credit to Anna.

"We really missed Ellen van Dijk in the end. She had a bad crash and she would have been able to close that gap. I felt very comfortable all day. I wasn't really under pressure and I was happy to stay up front.

"I'm disappointed in my sprint. I thought I would have had more. I'm sure it will come back."

Armitstead had been hoping to banish the memories of the inaugural La Course by Le Tour, which was won by Marianne Vos, when she was barged into the barriers and crashed out of contention.