photo credit @ Twitter
Katie Hall claimed the opening stage of this year’s Amgen Tour of California Women’s Race today, after emerging from a small group of riders to claim the sprint finish – following 74.5 miles of racing around South Lake Tahoe, California.
Race Highlights
Sarah Storey (Pearl Izumi) animated the start of today’s stage, after she escaped, along with Kirsti Lay (Canada), during the first 15 miles.
However, Lay was quickly reeled in by the peloton, while Storey managed to remain out front alone.
From there, several riders attempted to bridge their way up to the lone British rider, but only Allison Beveridge (Canada) succeeded in doing so.
From that point on, the duo managed to stay out in front for most of the race. However, as they reached Spooner Lake, their advantage over the peloton began to diminish rapidly. And, once the race entered into the final 14 miles, they were caught.
As the race entered into the final 6 miles, an eight-rider strong lead group containing Shoshauna Routley (BMW-Happy Tooth), Trixi Worrack (Velocio-SRAM), Annie Ewart (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies), Hannah Barnes (UnitedHealthcare), Malgorzata Jasinska (Ale Cipollini), Joanne Hogan (Tibco-SVB), Amber Gaffney (Twenty16-Sho-Air), and Stephanie Roorda (Canada), made their way clear of the peloton.
However, their time out front was short-lived, as the peloton quickly reeled the escapees back in.
As the race tackled the final climb up Keller Street to the finish at Heavenly ski resort, a group of about 10 riders came to the fore, in what was shaping up to be a sprint finale.
From there, Hall managed to sprint her way cross the finish, ahead of Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-SRAM) and Lauren Komanski (Twenty16-Sho-Air), to seize the stage victory.
Rider Name (Country) Team Result 1 Katie Hall (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 2 Alena Amialiusik (Blr) Velocio – SRAM 3 Lauren Komanski (USA) Twenty 16 p/b Sho-Air
General classification after stage 1 1 Katie Hall (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 2 Alena Amialiusik (Blr) Velocio – SRAM 3 Lauren Komanski (USA) Twenty 16 p/b Sho-Air
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