Cervélo TestTeam sprinter Kirsten Wild won the second stage of the Tour of Chongming in China today, marking the 10th victory for the women's team in 2010. Wild out sprinted yesterday’s victor Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia), and also took over the race's overall lead. Both riders sit equal on time, but Wild assumed the lead in the general classification by virtue of sprint bonuses on the stage.
“Today was the second stage of the Chongming Island Tour, a 79 km stage on the other side of the island from where we were yesterday,” reports Jean-Paul van Poppel, Sports Director.
Cervélo TestTeam sports director Jean-Paul van Poppel credits the win to a different tactical approach: "We spoke last night about what we can do differently from yesterday, and I think we saw that Ina was starting to sprint pretty early, so we wanted to anticipate that.
"Today we didn’t pull the sprint for Kirsten like we did yesterday. Instead, we let Kirsten go with Teutenberg - let her do her sprint from 300 meters or 250, whatever she thought."
Late attacks couldn't keep the prize from the sprinters, and it came down to Teutenberg and Wild to battle it out in the sprint.
"At the finish, with 1 km to go Columbia was still not one hundred percent sure and there was another attack," van Poppel explained. "However Kirsten was able to get back with Charlotte Becker (GER) and Sarah Düster (GER) and then there were three out. But with 500 meters to go they all went back and then it came down to a bunch sprint with Kirsten beating Ina-Yoko Teutenberg again, for the third time today, since Kirsten beat her in both the bonification sprints."
Tomorrow will see Cervélo try to use the bonus sprints to their advantage again to keep the overall lead.
"Tomorrow we want to hold that position with the opportunity for two more bonus sprints and the final sprint. The team is really, really motivated, we’re seeing good teamwork, and we hope for the best for tomorrow,” he concluded.