CYCLING

Two days of racing and two wearers of Yellow from the same team

By Women Tour of NZ

It is the USA women’s team show at the Trust House women’s tour of New Zealand.

Overnight leader Megan Guarnier from the USA national team has relinquished her lead in the General Classification to her team mate Lauren Hall.  Guarnier has taken today lead in the Ricoh Sprints competitions after finishing third and first in the two sprints today and the Trust House King of the mountains after winning today’s only hill climb at the back of Gladstone in Wairarapa.

It was a magnificent display by the USA team, controlling the race right from the start and increasing the speed in the final five kilometres of the race to set up their team sprinter Hall for the stage win.

The USA team also lead the team’s competition.

New race leader Lauren Hall was happy and confident “Great race today by our team, we control the race until the final to ensure the stage win and to keep the lead.  The Australian team is also very strong so tomorrow may not be me in the lead but I will pass on the jersey to another of my teammate, we will spread it around” Hall said.

Today’s Stage Two covered 125km of racing from Masterton to Martinborough and back and was won by new race leader Lauren Hall in a bunch sprint involving around 50 riders.   A nasty crash in the final 45 km saw a number of riders going down, most of them rejoin the race, two Japanese riders were sent to Masterton hospital by race doctor Ben McHale and now they are ok.

Tomorrows Stage Three sees the remaining filed undertake 130km of racing around the Carrington circuit.  The first 10 km of this stage is open and windy.  Although the terrain in not tricky, the GC riders will have to stay focused and make sure they are in a good position before the bottom of the climb.  Riders will complete nine laps of the circuit with a hill climb in each lap.

Results top ten stage


Top ten General Classification