photo credits @ ladies’ Tour of Qatar
Ellen Van Dijk made use of her time-trialling skills to claim stage 3 of the Ladies’ Tour of Qatar today, beating Kirsten Wild and Lauretta Hanson by a comfortable lead of almost 10 seconds.
Race Highlights
The Dutch rider was part of a sizable breakaway group that got underway within the first few kilometers of today’s windswept stage.
Eager to bounce back from a broken chain and a crash yesterday, Kirsten Wild (HPU) lead the breakaway group containing Van Dijk (DLT), Trixi Worrack, Romy Kasper (LPR), Gracie Elvin (OGE), Shelley Olds (CPC), best young rider, Anouska Koster (RBW), along with several other riders.
Meanwhile, trapped behind the leaders, was the golden jersey group of Katrin Garfoot (OGE), who quickly facing a deficit of almost one minute within the first few kilometers.
From there, the leaders continued to extend their gap, to where they had created a 2:50 advantage over the peloton at the 50 kilometer mark.
However, at the first passage of the finish line, the breakaway group struggled against a strong headwind, resulting in almost a one minute loss in their advantage to the chase. And, from there, their lead would continue to fall with each passage of the finish.
Nevertheless, heading into the final 2 kilometers, the breakaway group was still holding onto a 45 second advantage. It was then that Van Dijk began to power away from her companions, just as she did a year in most the same place.
Indeed, that was all the breakaway group ever saw of the Dutch rider again, as she proceeded to stay away for the duration, ultimately crossing the finish 7 seconds ahead of her rivals.
Meanwhile, fifth place finisher, Trixi Worrack, gained enough time to take over the race lead, with a 17 second gap over Romy Kasper and 31 second gap over Van Dijk.
Additionally, Kirsten Wild kept command of the points classification (silver jersey), while Australia’s Hanson claimed the white pearl jersey for the best young rider of the event.
Top 10 Finishers
1 Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 2:48:56 2 Kirsten Wild (Ned) Hitec Products 0:00:07 3 Lauretta Hanson (Aus) Australia 4 Anouska Koster (Ned) Raboliv Women Cycling Team 5 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing 0:00:08 6 Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:11 7 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing 0:00:13 8 Romy Kasper (Ger) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:00:19 9 Shelley Olds (USA) Cylance Pro Cycling 0:00:24 10 Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:00:45
General Classification after stage 3
1 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing 8:15:28 2 Romy Kasper (Ger) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:00:17 3 Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam 0:00:31 4 Katrin Garfoot (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:34 5 Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:50 6 Amy Pieters (Ned) Wiggle High5 0:00:53 7 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing 0:00:56 8 Lauretta Hanson (Aus) Australia 0:01:32 9 Anouska Koster (Ned) Raboliv Women Cycling Team 0:01:34 10 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle High5 0:01:42
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