Rally Cycling’s Sara Poidevin finished seventh on the second stage of the Amgen Tour of California women’s race on Friday. On the penultimate climb to Daggett Summit, Poidevin bridged to the lead group of riders to battle for the stage win. After a hectic descent and a steep pitch to the finish, Poidevin kicked hard and held onto seventh. Her efforts were enough to take the lead in the Best Young Rider competition.
The 108 km stage in South Lake Tahoe featured three QOM climbs before finishing at Heavenly Mountain Resort. Kirsti Lay, Sara Bergen and the rest of the Rally Cycling women kept Poidevin within striking distance going into the finale.
“I gave it what I had and I couldn’t match Katie today,” said Poidevin. “It was a really, really tough stage and I’m happy to come away with the Best Young Rider’s jersey.”
The jersey came from the shoulders of her teammate Emma White, after White’s podium performance in stage one.
“It’s really good to keep the Best Young Rider jersey in the team and I think it shows we have really good depth. We can contest each stage even though they are so different.”
Tomorrow’s stage in downtown Sacramento will favor the sprinters over the 70 km course as Rally Cycling look to assemble the leadout train to contest another stage in California.
Stage 2 results
1 Katharine Hall (USA) Unitedhealthcare Women 3:06:41
2 Tayler Wiles (USA) Trek-Drops 0:00:25
3 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM Racing 0:01:01
4 Erica Magnaldi (Ita) BePink 0:01:02
5 Brodie Chapman (Aus) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank 0:01:06
6 Caro Rodríguez (Mex) Astana Women’s Team 0:01:10
7 Sara Poidevin (Can) Rally Cycling 0:01:33
8 Leah Thomas (USA) Unitedhealthcare Women 0:02:14
9 Juliette Labous (Fra) Team Sunweb Women 0:02:18
10 Marcela Elizabeth Prieto (Mex) Swapit Agolico 0:02:21
General classification after stage two
1 Katharine Hall (USA) Unitedhealthcare Women 6:13:39
2 Tayler Wiles (USA) Trek-Drops 0:00:29
3 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM Racing 0:01:07
4 Erica Magnaldi (Ita) BePink 0:01:12
5 Brodie Chapman (Aus) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank 0:01:16
6 Caro Rodríguez (Mex) Astana Women’s Team 0:01:20
7 Sara Poidevin (Can) Rally Cycling 0:01:43
8 Leah Thomas (USA) Unitedhealthcare Women 0:02:24
9 Juliette Labous (Fra) Team Sunweb Women 0:02:28
10 Marcela Elizabeth Prieto (Mex) Swapit Agolico 0:02:31
