Worrack, Arndt share spoils on day two Friday, 03 February 2012 03:16

Judith Arndt of Germany poses on the podium after receiving the leader’s gold jersey at the end of the second stage of the Ladies Tour of Qatar cycling race at Madinat Al Shamal, yesterday. Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Thani, President of Qatar Cycling Federation is also seen.  PICTURES BY SALIM MATRAMKOT

Doha: Trixi Worrack of Specialized-lululemon opened her account with her new team in emphatic style with a two-up sprint victory over compatriot Judith Arndt of GreenEDGE-AIS in the second stage of the Ladies Tour of Qatar.

Worrack won the stage, compatriot Arndt put on the leader’s jersey.

Two seconds separate the pair. The fight for overall race victory will go down to intermediate sprint and finish line bonus seconds in Doha today.

The two German women seized the race by the scruff of the neck in the closing 25km of the 114.5km stage, between Al Zubara Fort and Madinat Al Shamal, and rode away from race leader Kirsten Wild of Netherlands and compatriot Adrie Visser of Skil-1t4i) to contest the stage between them.

Visser, almost surprisingly, beat Wild in the sprint for third, 2’20” behind the two Germans, with Wild’s AA Drink-Leointien.nl team-mate Shelley Olds of United States winning the sprint for fifth at 2’49”.

“I’m really happy to win a stage here in my first race with Specialized-lululemon. It’s hard and fun racing here and we’re really enjoying racing together,” said Worrack.

Having failed to work over the outnumbered Wild yesterday, Specialized-Lululemon and GreenEdge were not made to look foolish again.

“On Wednesday, I was pretty upset with how they acted tactically,” Specialized-Lululemon team directeur sportif Jens Zemke told CW at the finish.  Today, we had three girls in the front group, we had to attack, attack, attack, super. They did everything right.”

There was an early echelon explosion, due to some of the fiercest winds the race has ever seen. Nine riders, including protagonists Wild, Arndt, Hosking and defending champion Van Dijk, made the leading group.

On the finishing circuit around Madinat Al Shamal, a select forty-odd lead group formed. Twenty five kilometres from the finish, the attacks started.

“My plan was simple: to follow them all,” a disappointed Wild said at the finish.

She was eventually overwhelmed, but broke away from the bunch late on with fellow countrywoman Adrie Visser to finish fourth. THE PENINSULA

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