Ives tops Wells, Jennings for biggest win of her career

Victoria's Stephanie Ives claimed the biggest win of her career taking the honours in an exciting stage three of the Velo Battle on the Border, the second event of the Subaru 2012 Women's National Road Series.

"I'm pretty excited, it's the biggest win I've had," said Ives, who rides for the Holden Cycling team, following her memorable victory, "I can't believe it actually."

In a dramatic finish, South Australia's Kimberly Wells (Specialized Women SA) took second with Queensland's Taylah Jennings (VelociSports) finished in third place.

Queensland's Ruth Corset (Pensar-Hawk Racing), who took a 51 second lead into the stage, increased her overall lead by one second after finishing in the main peloton.

"My team (Pensar-Hawk) did a great job today and the plan worked perfectly," said Corset, who also claimed the stage's Queen of the Mountain honours.

Canberra's Rebecca Wiasak (Suzuki/Trek) sits in second overall, 14 seconds ahead of Victoria's Chloe McConville (Jayco/Apollo VIS) .

Sunday's stage three ‘Epic Road Race' saw riders complete an 85 kilometre undulating course around the Tweed inland region.

The pace was on early in the stage, with a group of ten riders including Corset, establishing a small break before they were reeled in by the main bunch.

A few minor attacks insued before Ives, along with Team Boss Construction/Nutrixxion rider Narelle Hards and Corset's Pensar-Hawk teammate Zoe Watters, made their move at the mid way point of the race.

The trio worked well together over the next thirty kilometres, enjoying a break of almost one and a half minutes as they reached the summit of the last major incline inside the final 20 kilometres.

With the peloton attacking on the descent, St Kilda Cycling Club's Madeleine Pape fought hard to close the gap on her own, however with just 10km remaining she was absorbed by the chasing group.

With mounting pressure from the peloton reducing the trio's lead to just 30 seconds, a terrible mix-up by the leading riders saw Watters and Hards inadvertently follow the lead car down a side street as the trio entered the final kew kilometres. The pair later came to grounds as they attempted to correct their course, with Hards unable to recover her position in the race.

Riding third in the lead group, Ives was unfazed by the direction of her rivals, continuing along the main course to claim the stage win. Wells and Jennings took full advantage of the situation to secure a podium finish, with a spectacular recovery by Watters seeing her snatch fourth position.

A shattered Watters was embarrassed by the mistake and the missed opportunity.

"I was in front and thought I had it all wrapped up, (but) I had my head down and followed the lead car the wrong way," Watters explained, before praising her Pensar-Hawk team who hold a 1min 40sec lead in the team standings heading into Monday's final stage.

"For us, our aim was to keep Ruth in the yellow jersey today and we did that," Watters explained. "Our role was just to follow any moves and it is rare that you make a plan and it actually works."

Likewise, Hards was ‘in shock' after dropping from 2nd to 45th place, however said she was still pleased with her ride. "It was good to get in the break and have a solid ride," Hards said.

"Better to be in that position and lose from there than not be in the position at all. "I'll take the positive from that respect," she added.

After the race, the Commissaires awarded Watters and Hards the same finishing time as Ives under a regulation which allows ‘anyone involved in a mishap within three kilometres of the finishing line to be awarded the same time as the group they were with prior to a fall or mechanical problem'.

Tomorrow's criterium at Salt Park is the fourth and final stage of the tour.

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