Judith Arndt surged into the overall lead at the Tour de L’Aude on Sunday after her Team High Road squad rode to second in the team time trial in stage 2.

The Dutch national team was fastest in the 27km course starting and finishing in Port La Nouvelle, covering the route in 35 minutes, 44 seconds (45.33kph). That wasn’t enough to snag the maillot jaune, however.

Ardnt and her High Road teammates finished second in the stage at just six seconds back and allowed the two-time winner Arndt to slip into the leader’s jersey.

Arndt takes a 12-second lead to Trixi Worrack (Nurnberger) going into Monday’s third stage. Nicole Cooke (British national team), winner of Saturday’s stage, slots into third at 40 seconds back.

“It was so close a call and the differences were so minimal we can’t regret not winning too much.” High Road sports director Ronny Lauke said in a team release. “We did everything we could, it was just a case of the Netherlands team being that little bit stronger on the day. Plus we got the lead, which is hugely important and a great consolation prize.”

Amber Neben (USA National Team) moved into seventh at 1:16 back after the team surged to fourth place.

High Road avoided troubles from last year’s edition, when Arndt went off the course. The entire team contributed to the squad, with a strong tailwind to push along the squad.

“Fortunately this time it wasn’t so complicated, we didn’t have any technical problems or punctures. Even though it was really windy, it was no different for any of the rival teams even if they had started earlier than us,” Lauke said. “Apart from the first few kilometers, it was a real course for specialists, one in which the top team time triallists could produce a lot of power.”

The team hopes to defend Arndt’s jersey going into stage four, the most challenging of this year’s edition.

“(Stage 4) is the one which will be the biggest factor in the outcome of the whole event,” he said. “It’s got two hors category climbs and a first category climb as well. No other stage is so difficult.”