Canadian champion Maggie Coles-Lyster opened her account at the Tour of Chongming Island by sprinting to fourth on stage 1, claiming her fourth WorldTour top-five finish of the season after the 110.4 km opening day in China.
Sprinter Kathrin Schweinberger also had a strong day, picking up time at a bonus point and placing tenth in the stage with the Austrian sixth on GC and Coles-Lyster eighth. Jente Koops also had an active day, placing herself in various breakaway moves atop her Factor ONE aero road bike.
“The sprint on this stage with a long three-kilometer straight run into the finish is always a bit more chaotic than the other days,” Coles-Lyster said afterwards. “Almost nobody had an organized train, and ours got a bit stuck on one side. I followed the other sprinters and was able to get out of the mess but just started the sprint too far back so didn’t quite sneak onto the podium.”
In a frenetic stage full of breakaways, the team of Coles-Lyster, Schweinberger, Koops, Silvia Zanardi, Marta Jaskulska and Katia Ragusa reeled in late attacks to set up the bunch sprint.
“The team worked really well today. We wanted to go for both of the intermediate sprints, but an early break stayed away for the first one,” explained Coles-Lyster. “The girls did a great lead-out, and Kathrin got a one-second bonus in the second intermediate, but then we were just on the wrong side of a large group that went off the front. The girls controlled and shut that down really well for the final sprint.”
A frenetic stage came down to the final sprint with Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime) taking victory. The result continues Coles-Lyster’s fine sprinting form and shows through Schweinberger’s finish and activity at the bonus sprints that the team has a strong dynamic for the race, but there are always takeaways.
“I think the biggest lesson from today is that Jayco and some other continental teams will try all day to get a breakaway to go,” says Coles-Lyster. “So we need to make a good plan to work with a very active race.”
Tomorrow’s stage 2 tours the east of Chongming Island, finishing the opposite way on the same wide finish straight as Stage 3. A final right-hand corner will be decisive for lead-out trains to get into position.
Tour of Chongming Island stage 1 results
1 WIEBES Lorena – Team SD Worx – Protime 2:35:09
2 COPPONI Clara – Lidl – Trek ”
3 GILLESPIE Lara – UAE Team L’IMAD ”
4 COLES-LYSTER Maggie – Human Powered Health ”
5 WEN Yuandan – XDS China Women Team ”
6 JANSEN Noä – Liv AlUla Jayco ”
7 VAN BELLE Lisa – Team SD Worx – Protime ”
8 STRAKATÁ Vendula – Dukla Women Cycling ”
9 ŠEVČÍKOVÁ Petra – Dukla Women Cycling ”
10 SCHWEINBERGER Kathrin – Human Powered Health ”
Tour of Chongming Island General Classification after stage 1
1 WIEBES Lorena – Team SD Worx – Protime 2:34:56
2 COPPONI Clara – Lidl – Trek 0:07
3 GILLESPIE Lara – UAE Team L’IMAD ”
4 MACHAČOVÁ Jarmila – Dukla Women Cycling 0:10
5 COLBORNE Henrietta – XDS China Women Team 0:11
6 SCHWEINBERGER Kathrin – Human Powered Health 0:12
7 ZHAN Chunrui – Bodywrap LTwoo Women’s Cycling Team ”
8 COLES-LYSTER Maggie – Human Powered Health 0:13
9 WEN Yuandan – XDS China Women Team ”
10 JANSEN Noä – Liv AlUla Jayco ”
Stage 1 gallery
Photos: Tour of Chongming Island
