Chloe Hosking: “I Think We Have Quite A Strong Sprint Squad” For Chongming Island

Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling return to UCI Women’s WorldTour action this weekend, in the only Asian event of the series, the Tour of Chongming Island, in China. The team will be led by experienced Australian Chloe Hosking, who has excelled on the island races just across the water from Shanghai ever since her debut in 2009. That first year Hosking won two of the race’s four stages and took the overall title, and has taken several stages and podiums in the years since. Last year saw the Canberran part of the team that led former two-time road World Champion Giorgia Bronzini to victory in the one-day World Cup race. “I think this is my sixth time heading to China,” Hosking said. “It was one of my first international races in 2009. It's a great race for development and Wiggle High5 is going there with a young team so it will be a good opportunity for our younger girls to have a solid hit out and really try and have a major impact on the race.” With the Women’s WorldTour replacing the World Cup, the Tour of Chongming Island has reverted to it’s original stage race format, with the one-day race no longer to be run. Hosking will be a rider to watch, to be sure, but the Australian will be accompanied by Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling’s four British riders, who performed so well in the UK last weekend. Having raced together as a quartet in the same team for the first time at the Tour de Yorkshire, Lucy Garner, Dani King, Anna Christian and Amy Roberts will be out to both impress and earn themselves some good results on the fast Chongming Island roads. “Lucy Garner is coming off a fantastic second place and best young rider at the Tour de Yorkshire so I think we have quite a strong sprint squad to try and pick up a stage win at the very least,” Hosking explained. “It's flat racing and generally always a bunch sprint so we've got the right girls to make the most of the terrain.” Alongside Hosking and the British riders, Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling’s team will be completed by its Japanese Champion, and Asian Time Trial Champion, Mayuko Hagiwara, making a rare appearance in her home continent. Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling team for the Tour of Chongming Island (6th-8th May) Anna Christian (Great Britain), Lucy Garner (Great Britain), Mayuko Hagiwara (Japan), Chloe Hosking(Australia), Dani King (Great Britain), Amy Roberts (Great Britain)

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