Arndt doubles up in Palmerston North

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Judith Arndt (HTC Highroad) won her second straight stage at the Women's Tour of New Zealand as she outsprinted her two breakaway companions to win stage 2 in Palmerston North. The top three was identical to the previous day's opening stage, with Arndt besting Catherine Cheatley (NZCT New Zealand National Team) and Ruth Corset (Jayco-AIS) for the victory.

Arndt's teammate Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won the bunch sprint for fourth 1:13 later.

"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," said Arndt, "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.

"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."

The Women's Tour of New Zealand has become a three-rider race for the overall as Arndt remains in the race lead with an eight second advantage over Cheatley and a 12 second margin over Corset. Joanne Hogan (Jayco-AIS) holds fourth place, 1:33 behind Arndt.

The peloton faces the 87km third stage on Friday on the Palmerston North Ashurst Circuit.