February 24/12 10:04 am - Tour of New Zealand: Stage 1, 2 , 3

Posted by Editoress on 02/24/12
 

Defending champion Judith Ardnt has won the Tour of New Zealand third stage bunch sprint. A ten second bonus at the line accompanied the stage victory. Current race leader Kristin Armstrong (USA) managed second on the stage and, with it, a six second time bonus. Arndt now trails Armstrong by 11 seconds overall.

"The overall is the goal," said Shara Gillow, who spent the day in the break and on the attack. "We have a strong team, and I reckon GC is within reach."

"We knew that we would need to reel back Armstrong's lead a little bit each day," added Sports Director Rodney McGee. "It's that kind of course, and with only four riders, it's hard to do it any other way. We're taking the overall day-by-day and second-by-second. At this point, we've gotten a little bit back on both road stages. We'll hope to continue this over the next two days."

Gillow animated the 121 kilometre stage between Ashhurst and Apiti. She was part of a four-rider break that included two riders from Jayco-AIS and Evelyn Stevens (USA).

"I got into a break with two Jayco-AIS girls and then Evelyn Stevens made her move," explained Gillow. "The break split up and came back together. We worked well together for some time until Evie was told to sit on. I sat on a bit, too. We were eventually brought back."

Although fierce winds made solo moves near impossible, attacks flew fast and furious in the final 20 kilometres.

"I attacked some and so did the other GreenEDGE-AIS girls," said Gillow, whose repeated attacks left the Americans chasing in her wake.

"It ended up working out perfectly for us," Gillow added. "Linda [Villumsen] led Judith out, and Judith won. Yesterday, she was second, and it was awesome to get the win today."

McGee called the stage win a team victory.

"We made good use of the four riders we have," said McGee. "I find this very encouraging. I'm especially proud of Jessie [MacLean] who really suffered on the climbs yesterday but managed to hang on today to have an input in the finish."

Report courtesy GreenEdge-AIS