Santos Women's Tour: Stage 3 win for Spratt

Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton Scott) pounced on stage three of the 2018 Santos Women's Tour to ride into the ochre jersey with victory on the uphill finish in Hahndorf. Spratt is now in prime position to defend her title with a 29-second gap on Lauren Stephens (Cylance Pro Cycling) and 1:30 minutes to Katrin Garfoot (UniSA Australia) with the final criterium stage remaining.

"I think we had to come in confident. We knew that we had second, third and fourth on GC and Kat [Garfoot] was the only UniSA rider up there," Spratt said. "You can never underestimate her, she is in really peak condition we know that from the nationals, so we really just wanted to try and isolate her."

The stage was one many thought may have ended in a sprint finish but Spratt who had gone on a reconnaissance mission last year knew of the opportunities to use the stage to move into the lead.

"It is a race I have targeted for a while. I came down last December and reconned the stages, so I was really confident with this stage that I knew the roads. Once I got away I was confident I could stay away."

Strong winds and threatening skies greeted the peloton at the newly constructed Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend for the 122.4-kilometre stage. Crosswinds and constantly changing weather wreaked havoc on the field throughout the opening hour and a half.

Linda Villumsen (Team Virtu Cycling) attacked the bunch 40 kilometres into the stage quickly distancing the field. Once in time trial mode the former world champion against the clock quickly took 5:15 minutes, giving the New Zealander the virtual lead by over four minutes.

With the gap holding, the pressure built on UniSA as the team launched a series of attacks by Lauretta Hanson and Tiffany Cromwell, which were soon followed by other teams lead by Mitchelton Scot trying their luck.

"We actually got Annemiek [Van Vleuten] and Lucy Kennedy into a move without Kat, it was just perfect, and we were happy for that to keep going," Spratt explained. "Kat had no choice really. Her teammates were really trying to bring that back and they couldn't, so she had to do the work to get across.

"I was sitting on her wheel to get across and I knew as soon as she caught them that I had to go and that was the moment so that’s when I went."

Working well, Spratt along with Stephens quickly ate into Villumsen's advantage and with 36 kilometres to ride there were three leaders. A tired Villumsen fell off the pace with just over 20 kilometres remaining to leave Spratt and Stephens in pole position to fight for the stage.

Grace Brown (Holden Team Gusto Racing) made a move inside the final 15 kilometres to bridge across. A charging Brown made inroads into the 1:30 minutes advantage, although the kilometres ticked down too quickly for the Australian.

As the road rose sharply with 400 metres to go, Spratt unleashed a powerful acceleration distancing her breakaway companion to take the stage by seven seconds. Brown grabbed the final spot on the podium 59 seconds behind.

With the final stage criterium on Sunday, Spratt sits in control of the overall and also leads the sprint and mountains classifications. Grace Anderson (Vantage New Zealand National Team) tops the young rider standings.

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