Ceratizit-WNT had a fantastic three days of racing at the Tour of Chongming Island where Marta Lach won two of the three stages and her teammate Mylene de Zoete won the first stage. Lach took home the overall classification ahead of De Zoete with VolkerWessels Scarlett Souren taking third.
All three stages ended in sprints, and although UAE Team ADQ and Human Powered Health tried to beat the German team, no one could contend with Lach.
How it happened
- The first stage of the race was rain-soaked, which led to some crashes, but ultimately ended in a bunch sprint. UAE Team ADQ's small but mighty squad with the help of Ceratizit-WNT kept the rest of the peloton complete with an eye on a bunch sprint.
- In the end, it was Ceratizit-WNT's De Zoete who took the stage after Tereza Neumanova opened the sprint up early. Silvia Zanardi of Human Powered Health took over sprinting for the American team after Daria Pikulik crashed earlier in the stage and was able to come third.
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- The second stage was sunny but windy, and a few of the WorldTeams tried to take advantage of the conditions, to no avail. Aurela Nerlo of Winspace spent some time solo off the front of the peloton and was able to gain over 30 seconds on the peloton before Human Powered Health chased her down.
- Ceratizit-WNT took charge of the peloton in the final 1.5 km until Gasparrini opened the sprint for UAE Team ADQ's Neumanova. This allowed Ceratizit-WNT's riders to save their accelerations for the final push and when the sprint really started, it was Ceratizit-WNT racing for the win between Marta Lach, Kathrin Schweinberger and yellow jersey wearer De Zoete.
- Lach was the rider to cross the line first, but the three riders swept the podium ahead of Alba Teruel of Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi.
- De Zoete held onto her lead, and with the bonus seconds, Lach moved into second overall ahead of Neumanova.
- VolkerWessels tried to send a solo flyer off the front of the third stage, but Ceratizit-WNT was in control of the race the whole day. Anne Knijnenburg gained over a minute advantage on the peloton within 20 km of the finale, but by 5 km to go the team of leader De Zoete had narrowed her lead down to 15 seconds.
- The peloton was complete with 4 km to go and teams prepared for a sprint. Human Powered Health and UAE Team ADQ took charge into the final kilometre, but it was stage 2 winner Lach who took her second stage and with it the overall lead.
- VolkerWessels walked away from the stage with Scarlett Souren and Sofie van Rooijen finishing second and third.
- Bonus seconds on the line meant Lach took the lead off her teammate De Zoete, who held onto second overall. Souren of VolkerWessels rounded out the overall podium in third, 14 seconds down on Lach.
Stage-by-stage results
Stage 1: 🥇 Mylene de Zoete,🥈 Tereza Neumanova,🥉 Silvia Zanardi
Stage 2: 🥇 Marta Lach, 🥈 Mylene de Zoete,🥉 Kathrin Schweinberger
Stage 3: 🥇 Marta Lach, 🥈Scarlett Souren , 🥉Sofie van Rooijen
Final GC Top 10
[race_result id=9060 stage_id=0 count=10 gc=10 year=2024]Brief analysis
- The same peloton will line up on Sunday for the Tour of Guangxi, where Lach has an opportunity to continue her winning streak. The race is hillier than the three stages of Chongming Island, and likely to be pretty exciting.
- Sunday is the last WorldTour race of the year, and teams like VolkerWessels and Human Powered Health are on the hunt for WorldTour points ahead of next season's relegation period.
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