Nettie Edmondson (Orica-AIS) sprinted to both stage and overall victory in the final stage of the Tour of Chongming Island in Shanghai East Beach. The Omnium bronze medallist from London 2012 was led into the finishing straight by her Orica-AIS teammates and, unlike the previous day, managed to time her sprint and hit the line just ahead of 2007 World champion Marta Bastianelli (Faren-Let’s Go Finland).
Edmondson’s Orica-AIS teammate, Swedish champion Emma Johansson, sprinted to third place just behind her teammate.
“This is pretty crazy,” said Edmondson. “It’s the first time I’ve won a yellow jersey in this kind of tour. It’s really special, but more amazing is how much my team backed me. I’m not the strongest sprinter here, but we have a strong team, and I was fastest because of them. They were brilliant all week.
“I knew [Wiggle Honda’s stage two winner Giorgia] Bronzini was also going to be looking for a win,” Edmondson added. “Her win could upset the overall. I tried to do some calculations, but at the end of the day, all that mattered was that I tried to win. That was all that we could do. We could only focus on ourselves. It didn’t matter about Chloe [Hosking of Hitec Products] or Bronzini. It only mattered that I took the win. We’d work out the overall standings from there.”
The stage, made up of eight laps of a ten kilometre city centre circuit, was once again a battle for bonus seconds between Edmondson and race leader Hosking at the two intermediate sprints, with the two Australians starting the day just six seconds apart.
Hosking took the first sprint, ahead of Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans), and Edmondson could only manage third. Hosking then also took the second sprint, with Edmondson second this time ahead of Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top).
The net effect of this was that the Hitec Products rider now led by nine seconds as they headed to the finish; to win overall Edmondson would have to win the stage and hope that Hosking finished off the podium.
The Orica-AIS team lined up on the front of the peloton and, unlike the two previous stages, led out Edmondson to perfection. Johansson continued sprinting to make sure that Hosking didn’t take any bonus seconds but, with the yellow jersey back in 13th place, Edmondson was already assured the final victory.
“In the end, I think I had a bit of luck on my side,” Edmondson smiled. “It was a fairytale ending.”
Result stage 3
1. Annette Edmondson (Aus) Orica-AIS
2. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Faren-Let’s Go Finland
3. Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica-AIS
4. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Faren-Let’s Go Finland
5. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling
6. Lucy Garner (GBr) Argos-Shimano
7. Shelley Olds (USA) Team Tibco-To The Top
8. Pascale Jeuland (Fra) France National Team
9. Roxane Fournier (Fra) France National Team
10. Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling
Final overall standings
1. Annette Edmondson (Aus) Orica-AIS
2. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec Products @ 1s
3. Lucy Garner (GBr) Argos-Shimano @ 17s
4. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling
5. Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica-AIS @ 19s
6. Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Faren-Let’s Go Finland @ 21s
7. Oksana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo @ 23s
8. Shelley Olds (USA) Team Tibco-To The Top @ 25s
9. Amy Pieters (Ned) Argos-Shimano
10. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Faren-Let’s Go Finland @ 26s