Tour of Chongming Island – Mylène De Zoete wins stage 1

Mylène de Zoete (Ceratizit-WNT) won stage 1 of the 2024 Tour of Chongming Island beating Tereza Neumanová (UAE Team ADQ) in a closely-fought mass sprint.

No breakaway lasted long on the flat stage as most teams were working toward a bunch charge. A group of 17 riders got away 39km from the finish but was reeled in again with 30km to go.

A solo attack by Thi That Nguyen (Roland) also came to nothing, and two kilometres from the line, Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT) made a last-minute move with a VolkerWessels rider on her wheel.

They were caught on the 900-metre finishing straight where UAE Team ADQ led out Neumanová, but De Zoete came up fast along the right-hand side barriers and went past the former Czech champion in the final metres to win the stage and take the first yellow jersey. Initially, it appeared that Sofie van Rooijen (VolkerWessels) may have taken third but ultimately it was Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) who took to the final step of the podium in the close run battle.

How it unfolded

Starting and finishing at the New City Park, the 108.7km stage was a loop around the northwestern end of Chongming Island. On the completely flat alluvial island, the Port Gelong Bridge stood in as a QOM sprint, and there were two intermediate sprints offering points and crucial bonus seconds.

The first intermediate sprint with 52.4km to go was won by De Zoete ahead of Van Rooijen and Lach. The group of 17 riders then went off the front, with Barbora Němcová (Team Dukla Praha) urging her fellow escapees to cooperate.

They were Anastasia Carbonari (UAE Team ADQ), Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT), Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health), Giorgia Vettorello (Roland), Femke Beuling, Meis Poland (both VolkerWessels), Naia Amondarain (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Mieke Docx (Lotto-Dstny), Lara Crestanello (BTC City Ljubljana Zhiraf Ambedo), Marine Allione (Winspace), Magdalene Lind (Team Coop-Repsol), Phetdarin Somrat (Thailand Women’s Cycling Team), Sophie Marr (ARA-Skip Capital), and Yiman Danna (Bodywrap LTwoo).

They never had a big gap, but the group worked well together and had representation from 14 of the 18 teams in the race. Nonetheless, despite having two riders in the break, VolkerWessels took up the chase, bringing the group back 30km from the line.

Lind attacked from the break shortly before it was caught and was solo in front for four more kilometres before being reeled in as the sprinters’ teams wanted to contest the second intermediate sprint.

This time, Lach was first over the line ahead of Scarlett Souren (VolkerWessels) and Kathrin Schweinberger (Ceratizit-WNT), putting Lach into the virtual lead. Nguyen attacked soon after the intermediate sprint; a chase group of six was quickly caught, but when another group of six countered and reached Nguyen, everything was brought back together by VolkerWessels.

With 17.3km to go, riders from the HKSI Pro Cycling Team and China Liv Pro Cycling launched an attack. They only held an advantage of a few metres and were caught again 15.6km from the finish.

The sprinters’ teams then kept things together until Nguyen tried again 2.7km from the line, taking Lind, Němcová, and a VolkerWessels rider with her. They were reeled in with 2.2km to go, and Lach immediately counterattacked.

The VolkerWessels rider that had just been caught jumped on Lach’s wheel but did not take turns. Nevertheless, Lach came onto the finishing straight with a three-second gap, but they were caught 400 metres from the line.

Karolina Kumięga (UAE Team ADQ) led out Neumanová who launched her sprint with 200 metres to go. As riders fanned out across the two-lane road behind the Czech rider, De Zoete used Neumanová’s slipstream to build up speed and then flew past on the final 25 metres to win the stage.

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