Lizzie Armitstead wins stage one

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Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervelo) showed she is back on form by winning the first stage of the Tour of Chongming Island stage race in China.

The 22-year-old British rider beat last year’s overall winner, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad), in the sprint, with Annemiek van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) coming in third. Teutenberg won all the intermediate sprints and so is the first leader of the race.

The 73.4km stage was flat and not technically demanding. However, heavy rain caused problems, washing debris onto the course which resulted in punctures and crashes.

After the race, Armitstead told womenscycling.net, "We expected that it would be a bunch sprint. We wanted to try to force something during the race, but only if there was a good moment. The good moment never came, so the girls tried to help me in the final stages. They did a good lead-out. A little bit too early, but they dropped me off on a good wheel so it was good."

The young British rider has had a difficult start to the 2011 season, after being hospitalised with a gall-bladder infection. She was also unable to compete at the track world championships in late March due to side-strain. Last week she had to pull out of the GP Elsy Jacobs in Luxembourg because of stomach problems, but her win demonstrates that she’s back on form.

Teutenberg leads the overall classification of the three-day race by one second.

"One second is nothing so it means we are going to have to fight for every second and every stage win. It will be as much of a fight as it was last year. We are expecting that," she told womenscycling.net.

The Tour of Chongming Island and the subsequent Tour of Chongming Island World Cup race all take place on an 80km-long island in the Yangtze River in China.

All three stages are very flat – stage two is 118.4km, and stage three will be 11 laps of a 7.2km city centre circuit. The stage race will be a good indication of riders’ form for the World Cup, where Annemiek van Vleuten and Hitec Products’ Emma Johansson will be battling to take control of the World Cup classification.

Current leader and Van Vleuten’s teammate, Marianne Vos, isn’t at the race to defend her jersey, as she’s taking a break after her highly successful, but race-heavy early season. She won cyclo-cross and track world titles, two World Cup races and five other major races.