By Rizwan Rehmat
DOHA: Popular Dutch rider Kirsten Wild - also known as the ‘desert queen’ - yesterday returned to her ‘favourite race’ by winning the opening stage of the Ladies Tour of Qatar.
The Hitec Products rider stormed to victory with a daredevil bunch sprint opposite the College of the North Atlantic.
The 33-year-old rider, who skipped the event last year, clocked a time of 2 hours 19.04 seconds for her 10th stage win in Qatar.
Italian rider Annalisa Cucinotta of Ale Cipollini, Australia’s Lizzie Williams of Orica-GreenEdge and Dutchwoman Chantal Blaak of Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam tried to battle to the finish but Wild - a four-time champion in Qatar - produced that extra burst of aggression to move one step closer to another triumph in the desert.
Cucinotta, owner of the silver jersey, is now seven seconds behind Wild while Williams is 9 seconds slower than the day’s star rider in the general classification. Chloe Hosking, who rides for Wiggle High5, is 9 seconds adrift of Wild.
“It was a bit of chaos because it is a wide road. Not too much wind out there. I tried to stay in the front. My team-mates did such a great job to help me stay in the final bunch before my final sprint to the finish,” Wild said.
“I knew that I had to struggle and push because of the strong headwind. It really worked out well,” Wild, who picked up bonus seconds on the line and at the first intermediate sprint on the 99km out-and-back course, added.
“It is really a hard course. There are a lot of corners. It is not easy if you are at the back and if you want to into the front again,” Wild said about yesterday’s route inside Pearl Qatar.
“You have to stay in front of the whole race. But it is a nice course with wide roads. It will be interesting, I guess. It was really difficult for us,” she said. Two years after last winning the Ladies Tour of Qatar, Wild yesterday claimed stage 1 of this week’s edition by navigating through the final circuit of the next UCI Road World Championships before heading to the finish line.
Ideal conditions and almost no wind welcomed the 90 riders of the 8th edition of the event at the Qatar University. The pack took off just after 1pm for the 99-km ride.
After a fairly quiet start heading north, the real action started just before the first intermediate sprint of the day when teams Orica – AIS and Boels Dolmans powered to the front of the bunch.
The pack eventually broke up into two groups leaving 46 riders in the lead. The sprint at the 39-km mark was claimed by Wild ahead of Hosking and Marta Tagliaferro. Five kilometers later, the pack bunched up together again.
The situation remained unchanged all the way to the circuit where the next UCI World Championships will be held in October this year.
After covering the first two hours of racing at an average speed of 41 km/h, the second bonus sprint was won by Blaak beating Chloe Hosking and Tagliaferro.
Well controlled by the strong sprinting teams, the pack stayed compact until the final push by the Qatar University.
On a slightly uphill straight, Wild again showed what a powerful rider she is, making her effort in the last 200m to outsprint Cucinotta and Williams to capture her 10th stage success in Qatar.
Thanks to her first win in 2016, Wild now proudly wears the overall leader’s Golden Jersey.
The Dutch rider also leads the points’ classification while Italy’s Arianna Fidanza emerged as the best young rider and will wear the Pearl White jersey for today’s stage 2 from the Sheikh Faysel Museum to the Al Khor Corniche.
Title favourite Hosking, who finished 17th in the bunch sprint, hoped to do well in the remaining three stages.
“It was really chaotic,” Chloe said yesterday. “I’d used a lot of energy in that second intermediate sprint and that was only nine kilometres from the finish,” Hosking added. “But hopefully it will be better in the next couple of days,” the Australian promised.
When asked about her prospects in today’s second stage, Wild played it cool
“I don’t look ahead. I just look at the routes day by day,” Wild said.
“But I expect a hard race. There will be pressure for the jerseys from the other teams. So it will be a hard race and we have to try and defend the jersey,” Wild said.
“It feels good (laughs). I am really happy for my team Hitec Products that I have given them this jersey at least for one day.
“It was a hard race, especially in the end. It wasn’t easy to get in the front. My team-mates did such a great job.Of course it is a good start. We still have three stages to go. We’ll see,” Wild said after picking up the yellow jersey.
“I decided for myself that if I am in the right position, I will go for it (the second intermediate). I wasn’t in the very best position so I thought I must save energy and go for the final sprint.
“It’s not easy. It looks easy. It is very hard racing. My team really helped me really well. This year I have good speed. We have to see what happens after this fine beginning,” she said.
The Peninsula
