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Team Giant-Shimano juggernaut kept rolling in the Ladies Tour of Qatar as its Dutch rider Kirsten Wild won the third stage to make it three from three for her team yesterday.
The defending champion also took the leader’s golden jersey from her teammate Amy Pieters, who had won the second stage.
“I’m really happy with the win. It was a really hard finish today, actually the whole final 10km was hard,” Wild said after the stage which covered 93kms from Katara Cultural Village to Al Khor Corniche.
Wild, who won the first stage, and Pieters kept themselves in the front group and controlled the race perfectly before the defending champion executed her powerful finishing sprint to take her second stage win and move back into the race lead.
Despite a few attempts by Lima Cordon and Dongyan Huang in the opening moments of the race, the pack remained bunched all the way to 38kms. As the top teams took command of the bunch and speed went up, the pack broke up into several groups.
The pack bunched up together again at 57kms when France’s Aude Biannic decided to try her luck at the front. After enjoying a 25” lead at 58km, she was eventually caught two kilometres later.
With 25kms to go, the pace went up again and only 14 ladies managed to take off, including Wild, Pieters, Chloe Hosking, Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Johansson, Gracie Elvin, Melissa Hoskins, Trixi Worrack, Elena Cechini and Shelley Olds.
The sprint was opened by Olds of Ale-Cipollini, who finished second in the first stage, but she faded soon when, with a powerful stride, Wild overtook British champion Lizzie Armitstead of Boels-Dolmans to take her second sprint victory and maintained the team’s 100 percent record on this year’s Tour.
Hosking of Hitec Products, who clinched second overall spot last year, finished third.
Overnight race leader Pieters rode a selfless race and finished ninth with the same time as the winner, but thanks to time bonuses picked up at the finish and at the day’s two intermediate sprints, she swapped places with Wild on the standings at the end of the day.
“We controlled the front group perfectly after the race split in the winds and made sure that Amy or I were always at the front,” Wild, who won the tour in 2009, 2010 and 2013, said.
“Our plan was to keep the jersey within the team and seeing how the finish panned out, it’s worked out. But it’s never nice to take the jersey away from a teammate, especially after all the hard work Amy put in today,” the 31-year-old rider said.
Wild claimed the first intermediate sprint at Tenbek (40.5km) ahead of Miike Polspoels and Johansson. Wild also won the second intermediate sprint at Al Thakhira with Hosking and Johansson finishing second and third.
With the win Wild takes her haul of stage wins in Qatar to a record eight, while Pieters continues to lead the young rider’s classification, and sits in second place overall nine seconds behind.
With one stage left, and just five riders within one minute of her on the overall classification, Wild looks set for a fourth overall Ladies Tour of Qatar title.
RESULTS
Stage 3 Classification
1. Kirsten Wild (Giant-Shimano) 2h 27’ 34’’
2. E Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) 2h 27’ 34’’
3. Hosking Chloe (Hitec Products) 2h 27’ 34’’
4. Shelley Olds (Ale Cipollini) 2h 27’ 34’’
5. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) 2h 27’ 34’’
6. B Guarischi (Ale Cipollini) 2h 27’ 34’’
7. Trixi Worrack (S-Lululemon) 2h 27’ 34’’
8. Elena Cecchini (Italy) 2h 27’ 34’’
9. Amy Pieters (Giant-Shimano) 2h 27’ 34’’
10. Loes Gunnewijk (Orica-Ais) 2h 27’ 39’’
Overall Classification
1. Kirsten Wild 07h 30’ 53’’
2. Amy Pieters +00’ 09’’
3. Hosking Chloe +00’ 21’’
4. Emma Johansson +00’ 35’’
5. Trixi Worrack +00’ 47’’
6. Melissa Hoskins +00’ 55’’
7. Jolien D’hoore +01’ 29’’
8. Elena Cecchini +01’ 40’’
9. Cromwell Tiffany +01’ 48’’
10. Iris Slappendel +02’ 05’’
Overall Points Classification
1. Kirsten Wild (Giant-Shimano) 53
2. Chloe Hosking (Hitec Products) 31
3. Shelley Olds (Ale Cipollini) 21
4. Elizabeth Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) 20
5. Amy Pieters (Giant-Shimano) 17
6. Emma Johansson (Orica–AIS) 12
7. Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv) 12
8. Jolien D’hoore (Lotto Belisol Ladies) 11
9. Charlotte Becker (Wiggle Honda) 9
10. Barbara Guarischi (Ale Cipollini) 9
Overall Young Rider Classification
1. Amy Pieters (Giant-Shimano) 07h 31’ 02’’
2. Melissa Hoskins (Orica-AIS) 07h 31’ 48’’
3. Elena Cecchini (Italy) 07h 32’ 33’’
Gold Jersey: Kirsten Wild (Giant-Shimano)
Silver Jersey: Kirsten Wild (Giant-Shimano) / Chloe Hosking (Hitec Products)
Pearl White Jersey: Amy Pieters (Giant-Shimano)
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