On a day of crosswinds, crashes and mechanical issues, Garfoot, the Australian time trial champion, held her own and picked up a spectacular victory after more than three hours of racing that began at Sheikh Faisal Museum.
Katrin Garfoot gestures during the podium ceremony.
With 30 kilometres to go, Garfoot was in the leading 10-rider group. After moving ahead in the company of Trixi Worrack of Canyon Sram Racing, Amy Pieters of Wiggle-High5 and Romy Kasper of Boels-Dolmans in the last three kilometres, she thereon proceeded alone to the finish line.
“I’m pretty stoked to take the win today,” Garfoot said after claiming the golden jersey.
“With 25km to go, I made it into a group of about eleven riders with Elvin Gracie and we managed to work well together taking turns. It broke up with about six kilometres to go and I managed to stay at the front as it dropped to about four riders. I kept going and maybe with two kilometres left, when I turned around, I couldn’t believe I was alone,” the 34-year-old Orica-GreenEdge rider said.
Worrack pipped Pieters in the sprint for second place, while Chloe Hosking of Wiggle-High5 led a group, comprising Ellen van Dijk of Boels Dolmans, Longo Borghini and Tiffany Cromwell of Canyon-Sram, home a shade under a minute down.
Garfoot has come into 2016 swinging, first winning the Australian time trial championships, and then continuing her run of good form to claim the overall title at the Santos Women’s Tour in Australia a fortnight ago.
Wild crashed 35km from the finish in the main peloton, but the Dutch star was quick to get back on her bike and, with a bid for her fifth Tour title in mind, rode to the finish in 77th position. Left by the bunch, she eventually crossed the line as part of a group that finished 3:51s down on the winner.
Kirsten Wild in silver jersey of general points classification.
Fortunately for Wild, the little trip to the tarmac didn’t do too much damage.
“I am disappointed. I have just bruises on elbow, knee and face, but my teeth are intact and I can smile. My team tried their best to put me on the front but we couldn’t manage that, but I am proud of my team for their efforts,” the four-time champion Wild said.
Wild was surprisingly caught out by the first split after 48 kilometres, and her efforts to chase back on were dealt an irreparable blow when she suffered a mechanical problem which forced a bike change.
Talking about her victory, Garfoot said: “I didn’t expect to wear the golden jersey. I came here to get a good hard training session so it just happened. That’s good. I love it. It was pretty quiet at the beginning until the first sprint. And then the splitting happened and then the crosswind happened. We were prepared for that. Most of us did not make it to the first sprint. But our group worked really well. And for some reason, I ended up in the front and that was my luck.”
With two more stages to go, Wild lost almost four minutes. Orica now have two riders in the general classification top ten with the Commonwealth Games time trial bronze medallist Garfoot leading the race by 17seconds and Gracie in sixth position.
Sports director of ORICA Martin Barras reaffirmed the positivity.
“It was a stunning ride from Katrin today, being able to back up the good work from the team and doing it from the front is excellent,” Barras said. “Taking the win and the lead in the general classification is a great reward for the hard work we put in today.
“We still have some good cards to play here, like Gracie who was excellent today and with aggression being the best form of defense we hope to continue riding well to maintain our lead,” he said.
Today’s 112km long third stage is from Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat Al Shamal.
RESULTS
STAGE TWO
1 Katrin Garfoot (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 3:07:13
2 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing 0:00:13
3 Amy Pieters (Ned) Wiggle High5
4 Romy Kasper (Ger) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
5 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle High5 0:00:58
6 Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
7 Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Canyon SRAM Racing
8 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle High5
9 Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
10 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing
General Classification
1 Katrin Garfoot (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 5:26:07
2 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing 0:00:17
3 Amy Pieters (Ned) Wiggle High5 0:00:19
4 Romy Kasper (Ger) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:00:23
5 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle High5 0:01:02
6 Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:01:07
7 Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Canyon SRAM Racing 0:01:08
8 Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
9 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing
10 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle High5
Points Classification
1 Kirsten Wild (Ned) Hitec Products 18 pts
2 Katrin Garfoot (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 17
3 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing 12
4 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle High5 12
5 Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Ale’ Cipollini 12
6 Chantal Blaak (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 10
7 Shelley Olds (USA) Cylance-Incycle p/b Cannondale 9
8 Amy Pieters (Ned) Wiggle High5 9
9 Lizzie Williams (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 9
10 Romy Kasper (Ger) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
Young Rider Classification
1 Anouska Koster (Ned) Raboliv Women Cycling Team 5:28:01
2 Floortje Mackaij (Ned) Team Liv-Plantur
3 Lauretta Hanson (Aus) Australia 0:00:04
4 Jeanne Korevaar (Ned) Raboliv Women Cycling Team 0:00:06
5 Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Italy 0:02:07
Team Classification
1 Wiggle High5 9:23:48
2Canyon Sram Racing
3 Orica – GreenEdge 0:00:33
4 Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:01:49
5 Raboliv Womencyclingteam 0:03:15
6 Team Liv – Plantur 0:04:12
7 Ale Cipollini 0:05:16
8 Lares - Waowdeals
9 Cylance Pro Cycling 0:07:17
10 Unitedhealthcare 0:08:20
