Posted by Editoress on 06/7/17
Katarzyna Niewadoma wins the opening stage of the OVO Energy Women's Tour
Katarzyna Niewadoma stormed to victory in the opening stage of the OVO Energy Women's Tour, taking the win in Daventry, Northamptonshire by 1-minute and 42-seconds over teammate Marianne Vos
The 23-year-old Polish Champion, on her first visit to the UK, put in an impeccable display of riding, breaking away with 47-kilometres remaining, to claim her first ever UCI Women's WorldTour win of 2017.
Photo gallery Photos by SW Pix
"When I attacked I wasn't really thinking. I just chose the moment” said Niewadoma speaking afterwards. "It can be a good opportunity to go away. I expected somebody to join me, unfortunately I was alone and I was thinking 'Oh no, there's 50km to go, there's a lot of wind, there are hills!' I wasn't sure if I could gain a lot of seconds but I was really motivated to keep pushing.”
Niewadoma built a three-minute lead at one point, but Boels Dolmans worked hard to reduce the deficit, but such was the WM3 rider's spirit that she stayed away to celebrate a memorable solo win, gesturing to the pink ribbon in her hair as she crossed the Kettering finish line.
"A lot of the time I was thinking about the girl who wrote my Breast Cancer Care pink ribbon; somehow I felt a lot of energy from her. I felt that we could do it. It's so crazy; normally races like this end up in a bunch sprint, and I knew that there are a lot of teams here like Ale Cipollini and Sunweb who want a bunch sprint, so I thought they would chase me hard. When I saw the 15-kilometre to go sign I knew I had to go full and see what happened. I'm so happy that I could win here.”
Niewadoma now wears the OVO Energy Green Jersey heading to Stoke-on-Trent for Stage Two and leads by 1-minute and 46-seconds over Vos, with Christine Majerus a further two seconds in arrears before 15-riders sit at 1-minute 52-seconds.
The WM3 Pro Cycling rider also takes the Wiggle Points Jersey following the opening stage, while Wiggle HIGH5 rider Audrey Cordon Ragot claimed maximum points at both SKODA Queen of the Mountains climb to take that jersey after day one.
Lisa Klein of Cervelo Bigla took the Eisberg Sprints jersey on countback, being tied at the top of the standings with Jolien D'hoore.
Alice Barnes, in seventh, was the top Brit, donning the Adnams Best British Rider Jersey in her home county.
"I've not raced a WorldTour event for about a month now,” said Barnes speaking afterwards. "I've done a lot of training for this race and a top 10 would have been a really nice target, so I'm happy with how it went.
"The wind wasn't as much of a factor as I thought it would be. It started off with a tailwind but we were always pretty bunched up. Up the climbs we raced really hard. Niewiadoma went away and we didn't chase as much as I thought we would. All the big teams were looking at each other. With it being a five-day race over long stages, I don't think anybody wanted to show their hand too early. She's a strong rider so she got her gap pretty quickly.”
Report courtesy Women’s Tour
Canada’s Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb) finished 13th in the bunch at 1:32 back. Alison Jackson (BePink Cogeas) 51st at 1:50 back.
Results
Stage 1: Daventry to Kettering, 147.5 km | |
1 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) WM3 Pro Cycling Team | 3:51:39 |
2 Marianne Vos (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling Team | 1:42 |
3 Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
4 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle High5 | |
5 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
6 Christina Siggaard (Den) Team Veloconcept Women | |
7 Alice Barnes (GBr) Drops | |
8 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) Cervelo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
9 Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | |
10 Roxane Fournier (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
11 Emilie Moberg (Nor) Hitec Products | |
12 Katie Archibald (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
13 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Sunweb | |
14 Hannah Barnes (GBr) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
15 Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) Cervelo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
16 Chloe Hosking (Aus) Alé Cipollini | |
17 Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
18 Rebecca Durrell (GBr) Drops | all s.t. |
19 Sarah Roy (Aus) Orica Scott | 1:49 |
20 Danielle King (GBr) Cylance Pro Cycling | s.t. |
21 Aude Biannic (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | 1:50 |
22 Janneke Ensing (Ned) Alé Cipollini | |
23 Eileen Roe (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
24 Floortje Mackaij (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
25 Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
26 Lucinda Brand (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
27 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle High5 | |
28 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Hitec Products | |
29 Vita Heine (Nor) Hitec Products | |
30 Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
31 Sara Penton (Swe) Team Veloconcept Women | |
32 Lisa Klein (Ger) Cervelo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
33 Eugénie Duval (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | |
34 Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | |
35 Sofie De Vuyst (Bel) Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling Team | |
36 Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
37 Anouska Koster (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling Team | |
38 Lauren Kitchen (Aus) WM3 Pro Cycling Team | |
39 Elizabeth Deignan (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
40 Audrey Cordon Ragot (Fra) Wiggle High5 | |
41 Jolien D'Hoore (Bel) Wiggle High5 | |
42 Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Hitec Products | |
43 Alena Amialiusik (Blr) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
44 Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita) BePink Cogeas | |
45 Jeanne Korevaar (Ned) WM3 Pro Cycling Team | |
46 Natalie Grinczer (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | |
47 Malgorzta Jasinska (Pol) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
48 Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
49 Chantal Blaak (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | |
50 Elena Cecchini (Ita) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
51 Alison Jackson (Can) BePink Cogeas | all s.t. |
52 Romy Kasper (Ger) Alé Cipollini | 1:59 |
53 Anna Trevisi (Ita) Alé Cipollini | |
54 Rossella Ratto (Ita) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
55 Hannah Payton (GBr) Drops | |
56 Clara Koppenburg (Ger) Cervelo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
57 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Canyon SRAM Racing | |
58 Anna Plichta (Pol) WM3 Pro Cycling Team | |
59 Christina Perchtold (Aut) Cervelo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team | |
60 Martina Ritter (Aut) Drops | |
61 Abby-Mae Parkinson (GBr) Drops | |
62 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | |
63 Eri Yonamine (Jpn) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | all s.t. |
64 Alexandra Manly (Aus) Orica Scott | 2:05 |
65 Maria Vittoria Sperotto (Ita) BePink Cogeas | 2:06 |
66 Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica Scott | |
67 Nikki Brammeier (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam | both s.t. |
68 Stephanie Pohl (Ger) Cervelo-Bigla Pro Cycling Team | 2:11 |
69 Sarah Rijkes (Aut) Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling Team | 2:14 |
70 Roxane Knetemann (Ned) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope | s.t. |
71 Claudia Lichtenberg (Ger) Wiggle High5 | 2:21 |
72 Thea Thorson (Nor) Hitec Products | 2:23 |
73 Shani Bloch-Davidov (Isr) Team Veloconcept Women | |
74 Daniela Reis (Por) Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling Team | |
75 Miriam Bjørnsrud (Nor) Hitec Products | |
76 Rozanne Slik (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
77 Sabrina Stultiens (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
78 Rachel Neylan (Aus) Orica Scott | |
79 Jessica Allen (Aus) Orica Scott | all s.t. |
80 Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Alé Cipollini | 2:33 |
81 Elise Maes (Lux) Team WNT Pro Cycling | s.t. |
82 Sheyla Gutierrez Ruiz (Esp) Cylance Pro Cycling | 2:36 |
83 Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | 3:05 |
84 Annabel Simpson (GBr) Drops | 4:57 |
85 Sarah Inghelbrecht (Bel) Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling Team | 8:00 |
86 Lydia Boylan (Irl) Team WNT Pro Cycling | 8:07 |
87 Francesca Pattaro (Ita) BePink Cogeas | 15:50 |
88 Silvia Valsecchi (Ita) BePink Cogeas | 19:15 |
89 Hayley Jones (GBr) Team WNT Pro Cycling | 21:10 |
90 Emilia Fahlin (Swe) Wiggle High5 | |
91 Daiva Tuslaite (Ltu) Alé Cipollini | |
92 Willeke Knol (Ned) Cylance Pro Cycling | all s.t. |
93 Annalisa Cucinotta (Ita) Lensworld-Kuota | 23:18 |
DNF Georgia Baker (Aus) Orica Scott | |
DNF Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cylance Pro Cycling | |
DNF Katia Ragusa (Ita) BePink Cogeas | |
DNF Alice Cobb (GBr) Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling Team | |
DNF Doris Schweizer (Sui) Team Veloconcept Women | |
DNF Camilla Møllebro (Den) Team Veloconcept Women |
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