Judith Arndt (HTC-Highroad) took her second consecutive victory in stage 2 of the Women’s Tour of New Zealand between Masterton and Palmerston North, outsprinting the remainder of a group of three riders. The 32-year-old German beat Catherine Cheatley (New Zealand) and Ruth Corset (Jayco-AIS) at the end of the 114km stage.
"For me it wasn’t that hard until the last 20km,” said Arndt, “The team did all the work for me, and I had a really nice time in the group. Ally [Stacher] and Chloe [Hosking] spent close to the entire stage riding in the front, keeping me in a good position.
“Myself and two others were in the break at the end, and my teammates spent most of the time at the front of the bunch which was good for me,” she explained. “At the end, a sign said 3km to go when there was only 1km left. This threw me off a bit, but it all worked out in the end.”
The peloton stayed together for the majority of the stage but, on the climb with 20km to go, Corset attacked. The former Australian champion was chasing points to add to her lead in the mountains competition, but also trying to escape Arndt and make up the 6-second deficit on the German in the overall standings.
Arndt was able to follow Corset though, with Cheatley, and the three of them rode away from the peloton. In the finishing straight, despite some confusion over the number of kilometres to go, Arndt managed to overcome the two southern hemisphere riders and the top three read identically to yesterday.
Arndt’s HTC-Highroad teammate Teutenberg won the bunch sprint once again, 1’13” behind the three leaders.
Result stage 2
1. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Highroad
2. Catherine Cheatley (NZl) New Zealand
3. Ruth Corset (Aus) Team Jayco-AIS
4. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 1’13”
5. Shen Yongyan (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling Team-China
6. Joanne Hogan (Aus) Team Jayco-VIS
7. Emma Crum (NZl) Cyclosport NZ
8. Luo Xiao Ling (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling Team-China
9. Amber Pierce (USA) Diadora-Pasta Zara
10. Zhao Na (Chn) Giant Pro Cycling Team-China
Standings after stage 2
1. Judith Arndt (Ger) HTC-Highroad
2. Catherine Cheatley (NZl) New Zealand @ 8s
3. Ruth Corset (Aus) Team Jayco-AIS @ 12s
4. Joanne Hogan (Aus) Team Jayco-VIS @ 1’33”
5. Vicki Whitelaw (Aus) Team Jayco-VIS