Wild wins yellow jersey as another dramatic Tour of Chongming ends
Print Edition
THE Dutch “queen of sprint” Kirsten Wild won the Tour of Chongming last week. The 33-year-old rider claimed the yellow jersey for the overall leader of the three-stage race in a time of 7:46:20. She also picked up the green jersey for most points.
In the first stage, 18 national teams started at Xincheng Park on Chongming Avenue. This stage features open and flat roads and suits sprinters. At the 21km point, Jiang Xiujie of China Chongming-Liv-Champion System Pro Cycling Team broke free of the peloton to build a 30-second lead. It was a lead she could not hold. Wild would not be denied and battled back to win the stage in a time of 2:45:53, edging out American Shelly Olds of Bigla Pro Cycling Team. Italy’s Giorgia Bronzini of Wiggle Honda finished third.
“I got half meter ahead at the finish line,” Wild said. “Sprints are difficult to predict, but every time I tried my best.
“This is my second time on Chongming Island and the roads here are suitable for sprinters. I like this place very much.”
Bai Yue, a 23-year-old Chinese rider with Chongming-Liv-Champion System Pro Cycling Team, won the blue jersey for best Asian rider in the first stage.
“It was a surprise for me. At first, I led the sprinters. Then I broke out of the group.” Bai said. “I appreciated the cheers from the locals and they motivated me to do well.”
The second stage is the tour’s iconic route. It features many sharp turns, narrow roads and slopes. Two sprint points give riders a chance to gain points. Wild faced another stiff challenge from her rivals but managed to pedal to a second straight win. She outpaced Roxane Fournier of Poitou-Charentes Futuroscope 86 and Bronzini.
“The pace was quite slow at first because many sprinters were finding the best time to take off,” said Wild. “So we saved energy and sprinted at the finish line. Luckily I got one meter ahead on the right and won.”
The final stage covered 83.2km over eight laps with sprint points at 20.8km and 52km.
The rain created challenging conditions for the athletes.
“Some of the riders were preparing for the Olympic Games. So safety was the first priority.” Wu Weipei, team officer of Chongming-Liv-Champion System Pro Cycling Team, said.
The rain became heavy 10 minutes after the start and visibility decreased. At the first sprint, slippery roads lead to a mass crash but most of the athletes were able to hop back on their bikes and continue.
Pascale Jeuland of Poitou-Charentes Futuroscope 86 won the first sprint with Annalisa Cucinotta of Ale Cipollini finishing second.
Huang Tingying of Chinese Taipei Cycling Team reached the second sprint point first and ended up with the blue jersey for top Asian rider.
Roxane Fournier won the stage, powering past Wild in the final 50 meters of a group sprint for a dramatic finish. Wild ended up 10th in the stage.
“With the help of my team, I overcame the difficulties and was very satisfied with the results,” said Fournier.
Although Wild failed to sweep all three stages, she did enough to win the yellow and green jerseys.
Wild said “conserving energy” was the key that allowed her to win the tour.
Ale Cipollini was the top team with China Chongming-Liv-Champion System Pro Cycling 9th and the China National Team 17th out of 18 teams.
World Cup
After a one-day break, the riders hopped back on their bikes for the Women’s Road World Cup, a 125km race won by Giorgia Bronzini, who clocked a time of 3:09:45 on Sunday.
She outsprinted Wild and French rider Fanny Riberot to win the individual race.
Bronzini credited her team for the victory.
“My aim was to be the champion and I trust my team very much," she said. "We learned a lot from the mistakes during the Tour of Chongming.”
Bigla Pro Cycling Team won the team classification with Wiggle Honda and Hitec Products second and third respectively.
The route started at Oriental Sports Center and passed through Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel-Bridge, Dongtan Wetland and along the coast. The flat and wide roads were an advantage for the sprinters.
At first, the pace was steady and when they reached the middle point of the Yangtze Tunnel-Bridge, the wind was strong. Lauren Kitchen of Hitec Products claimed first place for the QOM classification and claimed the mountain jersey for best climber.
Liang Hongyu of Chongming-Liv-Champion won the “glorious suffer prize” for breaking away from the peloton and leading the race for 49km.
She said that competing with many elite riders made her realize her weak points, adding she wants to improve and do better next year.
The 20-year-old rider of Ale Cipollini, Arianna Fidanza, won the best young rider jersey.
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