Wild sprints to victory in Madinat Al Shamal

The pendulum swung in Kirsten Wild's favour in the tight battle for overall honours at the Ladies Tour of Qatar as the Argos-Shimano rider claimed stage 3 in Madinat Al Shamal, while a late puncture saw Chloe Hosking (Hitec Products UCK) lose possession of the golden jersey by three scant seconds.

Hosking's ill fortune was all the more galling considering that the Australian had been marked present and correct at each of the stage's crucial moments. At the first intermediate sprint at Al Zubara fort, Hosking limited her losses to Wild to just one bonus second, and immediately afterwards, when the peloton swung right into a testing crosswind section, she had both the positional nous and the physical strength to make the first echelon.

Then, on the finishing circuit, Hosking kept close tabs on Wild, and while she yielded another bonus second at the intermediate sprint, she seemed poised to defend her golden jersey into the final day. A little over a kilometre from the finish, however, much of Hosking's diligent work was unravelled by an untimely puncture and she bade adieu to the front group.

That said, the damage could have been far worse for Hosking – she was awarded the same time as the front group as the punctured occurred inside the final 3 kilometres – but she was unable to contest the sprint for bonus seconds at the finish, and the on-song Wild duly went on the claim the stage win and the associated bonus that now gives her possession of the overall lead.

"That's bike racing: I got a puncture, what can I say," said a disappointed Hosking after rolling in over a minute down on a flat front tyre. "My time will be adjusted but I didn't get to sprint for the bonus seconds."

For her part, Wild was unaware that the golden jersey had punctured out of the leading group, such was her focus on keeping up her end of the bargain by taking out the stage honours. In a chaotic sprint that saw the front group fragment in the finishing straight, her fellow countrywoman Elen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) seized the initiative by opening her effort some 200 metres into the wind, but Wild eased her way past within sight of the line to claim a commanding victory. Van Dijk held off the rapidly-closing Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) for third, while Marta Tagliaferro (MCipollini Giordana) took fourth ahead of Shelley Olds (TIBCO-To the Top).

"It was a bit chaotic and there were still some attacks," Wild said of the frantic finale. "I was just hoping the speed would stay up to prevent any new attacks. When Elen van Dijk started the sprint, I decided to stay behind her so long as nobody else came up on my shoulder. She's so strong and had such a big gear that I didn't know if I could pass her, but in the end I think was a bit too long for her."

Overall, Wild leads Hosking by three seconds, while Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS) – again one of the day's principal aggressors – lies third at 16 seconds, just ahead of Elen van Dijk.

Wild's victory was her second in as many days, but while she had been forced to fend for herself in the finale of stage two, on Thursday, she had three Argos-Shimano riders for company in the front group. Charlotte Becker, Marlen Johrend and Elke Gebhardt succeeded in tracking the moves on the finishing circuit and marshalling Wild into position, and it was small wonder that she felt moved to point to her jersey as she crossed the line.

"I was still suffering from yesterday but my teammates were able to control it on the front, which was nice," Wild said. "It's the first race of the season and it's important to win but we can be happy already with the two stages and the fantastic teamwork."

A rapid start

After the start at the tranquil fishing village of Al Thakira, a stiff tailwind puffed the peloton along at a considerable rate of knots and they covered an eye-watering 48 kilometres in the opening hour of racing through Qatar's hauntingly spare interior. At that pace, there was little or no scope for breakaways and the Argos-Shimano duly ensured that the bunch stayed until the sprint at the imposing Al Zubara (60km), where Wild pipped Hosking.

Immediately afterwards, the road swung right and into the crosswind, and right on cue, Orica-AIS and Specialized-lululemon set about wreaking havoc on the front end of the peloton. A combination of their forcing and a crash in the middle of the peloton (Italy's Elena Cecchini was among the fallers) allowed a group of 18 to forge clear, with Hosking, Wild and Orica's Gracie Elvin safely on board.

A strong Wiggle-Honda delegation in the second echelon meant that the leading group swelled to 33 riders within sight of the finishing circuit, with double world champion Giorgia Bronzini now back in contention. 16km out, Lisa Brennauer (Specialized-lululemon) and Chantal Blaak (TIBCO-To The Top) slipped away and while they led through the first passage of the finish line, Argos-Shimano duly swept them up inside the final 10 kilometres.

At that point, the stage seemed set for a tense finishing sprint between Wild and Hosking, before fate intervened 1.5 kilometres out and halted the Australian's progress. Her setback sees Wild assume the overall lead, and while the Dutchwoman now appears on course for a third Ladies Tour of Qatar victory, Hosking sounded a determined note as she looked ahead to the final stage to Doha Corniche. "It's still open, so for sure I'll contest the intermediate sprints and the finish," she said. "Maybe we'll go for another stage win."