Tour of Chongming Island: Mitchelton-Scott field strong squad for women's WorldTour race

Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott)

Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott) (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mitchelton-Scott will send a strong five-rider squad that includes Tour Down Under stage winner Grace Brown, super-domestique Jess Allen and sprinter Sarah Roy to the three-day Tour of Chongming Island, which is part of the women's WorldTour.

The Chinese stage race, which starts on Thursday, is mainly flat – and therefore one for the sprinters and their lead-out trains – but there are nevertheless opportunities for breakaways to stay away on each of the three road stages, and Mitchelton-Scott will field a squad that is ready for all scenarios.

"I'm looking forward to China," said Allen in a team press release. "I raced Chongming two years ago, and I'm looking forward to going back with the team to try to get some results.

"The race is typically a sprinters' race, with wide and fast roads. I do prefer the gnarly types of races like the Classics, but it's good to go to races like this and have a crack at a result, too.

"We're taking a smaller, but strong, team of five riders," she continued. "The race will give us a great opportunity to practise leading out Sarah in the bunch sprints, but also to be aggressive and try to win from smaller or solo breakaways."

While Roy will be the squad's designated sprinter, Allen will join Brown and 2019 signing Moniek Tenniglo in having their chance to go for stage wins and, potentially, the overall title.

Alex Manly also returns to the team from a long stint on the track, having recently become the points race world champion, but said that she's looking forward to racing her first road event for the team in 2019.

"China is always a nice welcome back on the flat roads for a track cyclist like myself. I'm looking forward to joining the team again, seeing where I am at and helping the team go for a win," Manly said.

"It is the first race back on the road for Alex for a while, so we'll take it day-by-day and fix individual goals for her," added sports director Alejandro Gonzales.

"We always want to do well, and Chongming is all about getting the sprint train ready for the upcoming races. The form is there, and sprints are always a lottery, but we've got our ticket," he said.

Mitchelton-Scott for the 2019 Tour of Chongming Island: Jessica Allen, Grace Brown, Alex Manly, Sarah Roy, Moniek Tenniglo

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