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Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling’s Jolien D’hoore took her second victory in two days as she won the third and final stage of the Tour of Chongming Island in Chongxi, and won the three-day race overall. The former Belgian Champion once again beat big sprint rival Kirsten Wild (Cylance) in the big bunch finish, with former teammate Chloe Hosking (Alé–Cipollini) in third place behind her. In contrast to her previous victory, where D’hoore had gone early, only for Wild to almost overtake her on the line, the Belgian waited on the wheel of her big Dutch rival until the right time to pounce. 
“Yesterday Nettie [Edmondson] did a great lead out and I came off her wheel, but then Kirsten came really close,” D’hoore explained. “But today was the other way around. I knew it was a headwind again, so I knew I had to come very late. So that’s what I did; I just stayed on her wheel and I was just waiting, waiting, waiting… Then I came out at the right moment. “It’s a good feeling because we did it as a team,” the Belgian added. “It was just a great team performance. I never had such a great lead out as in this Tour, it was really amazing to sit behind those girls. It just gave me goosebumps! “So I have to thank all of them. Without them I wouldn’t have won. “Kirsten is one of the fastest sprinters in the World, so it’s always good if you can beat her. It gives me a lot of motivation for the future.” 
With the general classification so tight, the intermediate sprints take on extra importance for the sprinters in Chongming. After battling for the first one, however, Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling was happy to let the second one taken by a breakaway group, so long as they weren’t allowed to stay clear to steal the stage victory. “We tried to go for the first intermediate and I got third,” D’hoore said. “Chloe won it, but it was okay because I was still the leader by one second. Then there was a breakaway with four girls, and they got the seconds at the second intermediate. “From then on it was a pretty hectic and fast final. The girls did a lot of work; they got in breakaways, and they closed gaps. Without them there would have been a breakaway of a few girls, so I’m happy that they were there and I got some help. Then it came back to the final sprint.” D’hoore’s victory meant that she was to finish the race five seconds clear of Wild, and take the final Yellow Jersey. Having crashed hard on stage one, however, the race could have been so different for the Belgian, who had been concerned about a possible fractured wrist. “It’s not as bad as we thought,” she confirmed. “It’s just some road rash. It looks worse than it actually is, but it’s just annoying. It’s fine; I’m fine.” 
Result Final General Classification Photo Credit: Anton Vos |
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