Windless day adds to Hosking’s misery
DOHA: A bunch of 87 riders were greeted by near-perfect racing conditions on the opening day of the Ladies Tour of Qatar yesterday but only one name seemed a bit concerned: Chloe Hosking of Australia.
Hosking, one of the better sprinters on the women’s tour, yesterday finished in sixth spot as Italy’s Annalisa Cucinotta grabbed the first day’s honours with a slick finish in Dukhan, west of Qatar.
“No, there wasn’t any wind. What’s happening, Qatar?,” said Hosking who finished eight seconds adrift of Cucinotta.
“I was disappointed there wasn’t any wind,” the Australian said.
“But hopefully in the next couple of days we will get stronger winds and it (the top group) starts to break up.
“We want some crosswinds. We want to get rid of some of the other girls (from the front),” the 24-year-old added.
Hosking’s Wiggle-Honda team-mate Giorgia Bronzini of Italy finished the day in second spot, much to the delight of the Australian.
“I think GB getting second is fantastic. Sure we will get stage wins by the end of the week,” Hosking said.
“I mean I don’t think it is a perfect start but not a terrible start either. I think we have still put ourselves in a good position for the overall win. It’s not over,” she warned.
Hosking said Wiggle-Honda would do well in the remaining three stages of the race.
“Oh yeah, we can build on this (start), a hundred percent. This is the first time we are racing together as a team. There’s only two girls on the team that were together last year.
“Everybody else is new and we are still learning how to ride together,” Hosking said.
“It was good (day for me),” she said.
“I picked up a few seconds in the intermediate sprints so that’s really good. Obviously GB finishing second overall is really good for the team. I felt good. I felt strong.”
Hosking said she went down in one of the crashes yesterday but managed to avoid injury.
“I was part of the group that went down and somebody hit me from behind,” Hosking recalled.
“It wasn’t serious. I was fine. It was just one of those things, nothing serious,” Hosking said with a smile. THE PENINSULA
Results and Standings After First Day
DOHA: Results after the first stage of the 2015 Ladies Tour of Qatar.
Top 10 Riders in Dukhan
1 Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Ale Cipollini 2:28:36
2 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda
3 Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Ale Cipollini
4 Lucinda Brand (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team
5 Shelley Olds - Evans (USA) Bigla Pro Cycling Team
6 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Velocio-SRAM
7 Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Ale Cipollini
8 Jolien D’hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda
9 Kelly Druyts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Pro-Duo
10 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Velocio-SRAM
Points Classification
1 Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Ale Cipollini 15 pts
2 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 12
3 Shelley Olds - Evans (USA) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 11
4 Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Ale Cipollini 9
5 Lucinda Brand (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 7
6 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Velocio-SRAM 5
7 Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Ale Cipollini 4
8 Xiu Jie Jiang (Chn) China Chongming-Liv-Champion System Pro Cycling 3
9 Jolien D’hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda 3
10 Elisabeth Armitstead (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 2
General Classification
1 Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Ale Cipollini 2:28:26
2 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 0:00:04
3 Shelley Olds - Evans (USA) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 0:00:05
4 Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Ale Cipollini 0:00:06
5 Elisabeth Armitstead (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 0:00:08
6 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle Honda
7 Lucinda Brand (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 0:00:10
8 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Velocio-SRAM
9 Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Ale Cipollini
10 Jolien D’hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda
