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OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Bunch Sprint

Mitchelton-SCOTT made it two wins in three days at this year’s OVO Energy Women’s Tour on Friday, asAustralian Sarah Roy sprinted to victory in Royal Leamington Spa.

Roy, who won Stage Four of last year’s race in Chesterfield, out-sprinted Giorgia Broznini (Cylance Pro Cycling) and 2014 champion Marianne Vos (WaowDeals Pro Cycling) to claim the win. Her success in Warwickshire follows team-mate Jolien D’Hoore’s victory in Southwold, Suffolk on Stage One.

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Stage Winner, Sarah Roy

Fourth place for overnight leader Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb), combined with time bonuses taken at the intermediate Eisberg Sprints in Wellesbourne and Kenilworth, saw her extend her lead on GC. Vos, the winner of the race in 2014, is now her nearest challenger at 16 seconds thanks to her accrued finish time bonus.

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Adnams Best British Rider Dani Rowe

Dani Rowe (WaowDeals Pro Cycling) remains the top Brit in third overall and wears the Adnams Best British Rider jersey, four seconds behind team-mate Vos, while Rivera continues to hold both the Eisberg Sprints and Breast Cancer Care Points jerseys.

Roy, who won a stage at Chesterfield during the 2017 race put her success down to the work of her team and thorough preparation.

“In the final kilometre I was really well looked after,” said the Mitchelton-SCOTT rider. “Any important parts of the race we try to research beforehand and talk about a lot, and we go and look at on Google Street View. So we were really well researched today and I was really well prepared. I think that helped.
“I wasn’t confident coming over the climbs today and I didn’t have a great day yesterday, so I really tried to turn it around today. You saw it – I was a little bit overwhelmed at the finish there and had a few tears.

 

“My team have given me the opportunity today and I thought I’m going to take this one and give it all I’ve got. You’ve seen them work their butts off out there covering all their attacks and I was just super thankful for their work out there today, so to pull it off is the nicest feeling.”

Sunshine and warm temperatures welcomed the OVO Energy Women’s Tour to Warwickshire for the third time, with large crowds cheering the riders off from the centre of Atherstone on the 150-kilometre leg.

A fast start to the stage saw the racing stay together until the first Eisberg Sprint at Kenilsworth, with Rivera taking the honours from Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans).

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa – Eisberg Sprint Wellsbourne

A break containing Ann-Sophie Duyck (Cervélo-Bigla) and Vita Heine (Team Hitec Products-BIRK Sport) soon went clear, eventually being caught just before the top of the day’s second SKODA Queen of the Mountains climb at Burton Dassett Country Park.

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa – Wellsbourne Sprint with Coryn Rivera 3rd across line

The re-grouping at the front brought 35 riders together to contest the fast run back to Royal Leamington Spa, which was marked by a flurry of attacks from a multitude of teams and riders, in particular the Canyon//SRAM squad of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma. However, no cohesive move could stay away.

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa – Marianne Vos, European Champion

Coming through the sweeping left hander into the 400-metre finishing straight alongside Jephson Gardens it was Vos who led out the sprint, but Roy and Bronzini who came past on the long run to the line. Rivera took fourth, Roxanne Fournier fifth, and Rowe the top Brit in 10th.

Speaking afterwards having retained her OVO Energy Green Jersey for a second day, Team Sunweb’s Rivera said: “For sure it was not easy out there. The girls were really strong today and we had five over the last climb so we were just covering attacks. They are trying to make it hard for us.”

For Rivera, an accomplished stage and one-day race winner, her previous overall stage race success came in April 2016 in the USA, meaning that leading a week long UCI Women’s World Tour event sees her move into new territory.

“It’s pretty special, I don’t see myself as a general classification rider so it’s a different mindset I have to put in my head,” she said. “But it is really special to be wearing it and having all the girls believing in me – it is quite a responsibility. It’s nice to be over halfway [through the race], but still anything can happen and we have to be on our toes.”

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Elisa Longo Borghini & Kasia Nieuwidoma

Elisa Longo Borghini picked up maximum points on the second SKODA Queen of the Mountains climb to extend her lead in the climber’s jersey to 13 points over Niewiadoma.

The weekend sees Stage Four take place in Worcestershire heading from Evesham to Worcester on Saturday (16 June), before the final day (Sunday 17 June) visits Wales, with Stage Five taking place from Dolgellau to Colwyn Bay on the North Wales coast, via Snowdonia.

Words by Sweetspot, Images by Chris Maher

The Women’s Tour Official Site

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Combativity Award – Ann-Sophie Duyck

Stage Winner 76 ROY Sarah Mitchelton Scott AUS

Combativity award 32 DUYCK Ann-Sophie Cervelo – Bigla Pro Cycling Team

General Classification OVO ENERGY 21 RIVERA Coryn Team Sunweb USA

Points BREAST CANCER CARE 21 RIVERA Coryn Team Sunweb USA

Queen of the Mountains SKODA 55 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa Wiggle High5 ITA

Sprints EISBERG 21 RIVERA Coryn Team Sunweb USA

Best British ADNAMS 105 ROWE Danielle Waowdeals Pro Cycling Team GBR

Best Team OVO ENERGY Waowdeals Pro Cycling Team

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Eisberg Sprints Leader Coryn Rivera
Stage 3 Top Twenty

1 76 ROY Sarah 00″ MTS AUS B:10″
2 61 BRONZINI Giorgia ‘ ‘ CPC ITA B:06″
3 101 VOS Marianne ‘ ‘ WAD NED B:04″
4 21 RIVERA Coryn ‘ ‘ SUN USA B:04″
5 41 FOURNIER Roxane ‘ ‘ FDJ FRA
6 43 DUVAL Eugénie ‘ ‘ FDJ FRA
7 161 CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia 02″ VAL ITA
8 91 BUURMAN Eva ‘ ‘ DRP NED
9 15 PIETERS Amy ‘ ‘ DLT NED
10 105 ROWE Danielle ‘ ‘ WAD GBR B:01″
11 12 *DIDERIKSEN Amalie ‘ ‘ DLT DEN
12 51 BRENNAUER Lisa ‘ ‘ WHT GER
13 134 PAWLOWSKA Katarzyna ‘ ‘ TVC POL
14 145 *IAKOVENKO Anastasiia ‘ ‘ BTC RUS
15 3 *BARNES Alice ‘ ‘ CSR GBR
16 36 *LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup ‘ ‘ CBT DEN
17 55 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa ‘ ‘ WHT ITA
18 141 BUJAK Eugenia ‘ ‘ BTC SLO
19 111 *ANDERSEN Susanne ‘ ‘ HPU NOR
20 144 NILSSON Hanna ‘ ‘ BTC SWE

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, OVO Energy Race Leader Coryn Rivera
General Classification after Stage 3

1 21 RIVERA Coryn 00″ SUN USA 11h17’27”
2 101 VOS Marianne 16″ WAD NED 11h17’43”
3 105 ROWE Danielle 20″ WAD GBR 11h17’47”
4 15 PIETERS Amy 23″ DLT NED 11h17’50”
5 14 MAJERUS Christine ‘ ‘ DLT LUX ‘ ‘
6 55 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa 27″ WHT ITA 11h17’54”
7 91 BUURMAN Eva 29″ DRP NED 11h17’56”
8 141 BUJAK Eugenia ‘ ‘ BTC SLO ‘ ‘
9 161 CONFALONIERI Maria Giulia ‘ ‘ VAL ITA ‘ ‘
10 5 FERRAND PREVOT Pauline ‘ ‘ CSR FRA ‘ ‘
11 106 STULTIENS Sabrina ‘ ‘ WAD NED ‘ ‘
12 145 *IAKOVENKO Anastasiia ‘ ‘ BTC RUS ‘ ‘
13 26 VAN DIJK Ellen ‘ ‘ SUN NED ‘ ‘
14 86 PALADIN Soraya ‘ ‘ ALE ITA ‘ ‘
15 4 AMIALIUSIK Alena ‘ ‘ CSR BLR ‘ ‘
16 84 KASPER Romy ‘ ‘ ALE GER ‘ ‘
17 76 ROY Sarah 34″ MTS AUS 11h18’01”
18 61 BRONZINI Giorgia 38″ CPC ITA 11h18’05”
19 41 FOURNIER Roxane 44″ FDJ FRA 11h18’11”
20 43 DUVAL Eugénie ‘ ‘ FDJ FRA ‘ ‘
21 1 NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna 45″ CSR POL 11h18’12”
22 144 NILSSON Hanna 46″ BTC SWE 11h18’13”
23 36 *LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup ‘ ‘ CBT DEN ‘ ‘
24 64 RATTO Rossella ‘ ‘ CPC ITA ‘ ‘
25 142 BATAGELJ Polona ‘ ‘ BTC SLO ‘ ‘
26 11 BLAAK Chantal ‘ ‘ DLT NED ‘ ‘
27 134 PAWLOWSKA Katarzyna ‘ ‘ TVC POL ‘ ‘
28 83 ENSING Janneke ‘ ‘ ALE NED ‘ ‘
29 12 *DIDERIKSEN Amalie 01’02” DLT DEN 11h18’29”
30 94 *PARKINSON Abby-Mae ‘ ‘ DRP GBR ‘ ‘

OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa – Ann-Sophie Duyck & Vite Heine
OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, Autobus with Lotta Lepisto
OVO Energy Women’s Tour 2018 | Stage 3 – Atherstone to Royal Leamington Spa, A Win for Sarah Roy, Mitchelton Scott
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