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Australian Chloe Hosking crowned a perfect weekend for Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling - after Elisa Longo Borghini’s victory in Saturday’s Giro dell’Emilia - as she won the GP Beghelli, as the 79km race finished in a bunch sprint. The 25-year-old La Course winner overcame multiple World Champion Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) in the finishing straight, with the Dutchwoman holding off Italian Barbara Guarischi (Canyon-SRAM) in the battle for second place. 
“It was a really nice race actually,” Hosking said afterwards. “It was a 13km circuit with a little bit of a climb in it, and then a technical descent. We went in with a really open tactic. We obviously had Emma [Johansson] and Elisa here who are really strong on the climb, so we didn’t want to make them wait for the sprinters. “I just wanted to practise my sprint, obviously, leading into the Worlds. I went for both the intermediate sprints, and took out the first one and picked up third in the second. So that gave me the sprinters’ classification.” With so many major sprinters in the field, the peloton stayed together for most of the race, with very few breakaways able to get clear. A group did attack in the penultimate lap, with Sarah Roy (Australia) the last rider to hold out against the chasing pack. The Australian was caught with several kilometres left, however, as the big teams lines up their fast finishers. “Leading into the finish I got a bit distanced on the climb, but was able to come back,” Hosking explained. “Gio [Bronzini] and Elisa helped put me in a really good position for the finish, and I was able to come over Vos after she started the sprint with about 200 to go. I felt really good, so obviously it’s a huge confidence boost, now three weeks out from Doha. “I just realised that it’s a bookend for me: I won my first race with Wiggle in 2015, and now I’ve won my last race with Wiggle High5 in 2016, so it’s quite fitting.” 
Hosking’s victory makes it two out of two for Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling in the two race weekend in the area of Bologna, the capital of the Italian Emilia Romagna region. The Giro dell’Emilia was won by Longo Borghini after hard work from teammates like Hosking, and today the Australian was to be the one to benefit from such teamwork. “Yesterday obviously wasn’t for me - finishing up that hill - so I just wanted to try and put Elisa in the best position possible, leading into the climb,” Hosking said. “I think I did that job pretty well, and Gio was able to finish it off really well. And I also had a did in the sprints, throughout the stage, and I picked up the first one there. “It was a real, nice relaxed weekend of racing with the team, and a great way to finish it off,” she added. “It was Emma’s [Johansson] last race, other than the World Championships, so I think everybody was just in a good mood and enjoying riding their bikes.” 
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