Team Giant Shimano – Lead changes hands again as Kirsten Wild wins stage three of “Ladies Tour of Qatar”

Kirsten Wild (NED) has continued the winning streak at the Ladies Tour of Qatar by winning today’s third stage, making it three from three. Wild and teammate Amy Pieters (NED) were present in the front group and controlled the race perfectly before she executed her powerful finishing sprint to take her second stage win and move back into the race lead. The race once again split early in the crosswinds and Wild and Pieters were in front for the team. Wild set about picking up bonus seconds on offer at the intermediate sprints along the route. The selection was then whittled down to a small group of around 10 riders which, despite several attacks stayed together to sprint out the win. Pieters rode a selfless race, marking moves despite being in the leader’s jersey in order to keep her teammate as fresh as possible for the finish. Despite covering several moves herself, Wild was once again too fast for the rest and maintained the team’s 100% record so far in this year’s race. “It was a really hard finish today, actually the whole final 10km was hard,” said Wild before heading off to podium duties. “We controlled the front group perfectly after the race split in the winds and made sure that Amy or I were always at the front. “I’m really happy to take the win and continue our success here, but it’s never nice to take the jersey away from a teammate, especially after all the hard work Amy put in today. But the plan was to keep the jersey in the team either way and see how the finish panned out so it’s worked out.” Team Giant-Shimano coach, Ruud Verhagen (NED) said: “We knew it was going to be a tough day today but it worked out perfectly once again. “The girls were really strong again and when Amy and Kirsten were in the front group of 12 the situation was perfect. They never lost control and even after working hard, Kirsten was still the fastest to the line.” Pieters continues to lead the young rider’s competition, and sits in second place overall nine seconds behind, while Wild also leads the sprints competition.

Ufficio Stampa Team Giant Shimano