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Dutch sprinter Kirsten Wild of Argos-Shimano placed herself in line for a hat-trick of titles at the Ladies Tour of Qatar by winning the grueling 112.5km penultimate stage between Al-Thakhira and Madinat al-Shamal yesterday. |
With this victory, Wild has managed a three-second lead going into the final stage today over Australia’s Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products. Hosking, who was sitting pretty at the top of general classification, suffered a puncture at the crunch – just 1km from the finish.
Though the Aussie was given the same time as Wild, what hurt her most was the bonus seconds that she failed to gain after missing out on the sprint. Wild gained 10 seconds at the tape and also captured some vital seconds in the two intermediate sprints.
“What can I say, that’s bike racing. I got a puncture. My time will be adjusted but I didn’t get to sprint for the bonus seconds,” said a dejected Hosking after the race.
With Hosking out of contention for the final sprint, Wild showed she had enough power in her legs to outsprint the other challengers from Orica-AIS and Specialized-Lululemon teams. Taking the second place was Wild’s compatriot Ellen van Dijk of Specialized-lululemon, who had held the lead all through to the closing stages. Two-time former World champion Giorgia Bronzini of Wiggle-Honda, after failing to make her presence felt in the first two stages, put up a good show to settle for the third spot.
“It was a bit chaotic and there were still some attack. I was just hoping the speed would stay up to prevent any new attacks. When Elen van Dijk started the sprint, I decided to stay behind her so long as nobody else came up on my shoulder. She’s so strong and had such a big gear that I didn’t know if I could pass her. However, in the end I think the gap was a bit too long for her,” revealed Wild, who will now be donning the golden jersey.”
The riders enjoyed a strong tailwind right from the start and the peloton even reached speeds of 70kph. The first hour saw several breakaway attempts but none could maintain a clear lead for long. Wild went on to win the first intermediate sprint after 60km at Al-Zubara ahead of Hosking and her teammate Charlotte Becker. With that finish, Wild jumped to the second spot jointly held by Gracie Elvin of Orica-AIS.
Kristen Wild after winning the third stage yesterday
Later a crash caused a big split in the group and 40-odd riders got away before being split into two again. A total of 18 riders opened up a gap of 35 seconds with most of the top riders in it. The second intermediate sprint was won by Lisa Brennauer of Specialized-lululemon. Brennauer, along with Chantal Blaak of Team Tibco-to the Top, were able to break away from the peloton at that juncture. Wild, who had placed herself with Hosking, won a tight contest with the latter settling for the third place.
With 10km to go, Brennauer and Blaak had a 15-second edge over the chasing group. Two more riders - Noemi Cantele of BePink and Emilia Fahlin of Hitec Products joined Brennauer and Blaak upfront. However, they were finally caught at the 5km mark. Van Dijk led into the finishing straight, but Wild was on her tail all the way. With Hosking suffering a puncture, Wild gave it her everything and stormed to victory. Luckily for Hosking, she was given the same time as Wild as this happened inside the 3km mark.
Today’s 86.5 km final stage will start at Sealine Beach Resort at 1pm and ends at Doha Corniche by 3.15pm.