February 5/16 9:48 am - Ladies Tour of Qatar: Stage 4 and Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 02/5/16
 

Kirchmann Top-30 Overall at Qatar

The final day of the 2016 Ladies' Tour of Qatar ended with a traditional bunched sprint in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Australia's Chloe Hosking (Wiggle-High Five) was the fastest of the day, beating to the line Kirsten Wild (Hitec Products) and Monique Van Der Ree (Lares-Waowdeals). Ever present at the front since Day 1, 34-year-old Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM), who took command of the GC after Thursday's stage in Madinat Al Shamal, kept control of the race lead, to win the 8th edition of the event ahead of Romy Kasper (Boels-Dolman) and Ellen Van Dijk (Boels-Dolman).

Leah Kirchmann (Liv-Plantur) was the top Canadian, finishing 43rd on the stage at the same time as the winner, and 29th overall in the final classification, 3:54 behind Worrack.  Annie Ewart (UnitedHealthcare) was the only other Canadian in the race, finishing 66th in the stage at nine seconds, and 37th overall, at 4:50.

80 riders took the start for the final 73 kilometre stage, with Trixi Worrack enjoying a comfortable 17 second lead over Romy Kasper.

After a rather quiet start all the way to the six kilometre Doha Corniche finishing circuit, the pace went up on the fourth lap, before the first intermediate sprint, which was claimed by Ellen Van Dijk. Thanks to her second spot and two bonus seconds, Anouska Koster (Rabo Liv) virtually caught up with Lauretta Hanson (Australia) in the lead of the Best Young Rider standings.

After several breakaway attempts, Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) managed to pull away from the pack at kilometre 36. The American saw her lead reach 22 seconds with five laps to go. The second bonus sprint was claimed by Rivera with 1:20 over the pack. With two laps to go, the gap had dropped down to 20 seconds on two first chasers, and 48 seconds on the bunch. Rivera managed to hang on until the 67th kilometre before being gobbled up by the peloton.

Led by teams Hitec Products and Wiggle High Five, the main field remained bunched until the final sprint. On the last straight, Chloe Hosking delivered a perfectly timed sprint, capturing her first stage success this year (her second in Qatar), beating Kirsten Wild and Monique Van Der Ree to the line.

Comfortably settled in the pack and well protected by her Canyon-SRAM team mates, Trixi Worrack crossed the finish line in 14th place to claim the gold jersey.  The Points classification (silver jersey) is won by stage 1 winner Kirsten Wild, while the Best Young Rider of the event is Anouska Koster.

Results from the fourth and final stage in Qatar