Scandolara wins opening stage of Santos Women's Tour

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Italy's Valentina Scandalora (Orica-AIS) won the opening stage of the Santos Women’s Tour in Adelaide on Saturday with a solo breakaway 10 kilometres that proved too strong for the peloton.

The race was held over a 60-kilometre course from Woodside and Murray Bridge with Lauren Kitchen (RoXSolt) claiming second in the bunch sprint ahead of Scandalora's teammate Melissa Hoskins.

"It wasn’t planned that we attacked solo but I tried, I saw the occasion and I went," Scandalora said at the finish.

"If they were coming back there was no other chance for me, so I gave it all and it was enough. It’s my first race of 2015, in Italy they say ‘who begins well has already done half of the work’ so if you begin well, you’re already on your way."

"We wanted to make the race hard on the first climb and after the Queen of the Mountain but everyone was so fresh we couldn’t do that. We hoped for more wind but there was none, but when there were crosswinds we went as planned, and we broke up the bunch."

The opening stages of the race were marked by aggressive moves from the Orica team as well as an attack from under 23 road race national champion Shannon Malseed.

The race split into several groups, with a lead bunch of 26 riders at the head of the race. As Scandalora made her move, she quickly opened up a 25 second gap on the Wiggle Down Under – led bunch.

Stage two of the Santos Women's Tour will be a criterium in East Adelaide on Sunday, January 18.

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