Women's Herald Sun Tour: Sierra takes victory on stage 1

Image 1 of 11

Cuban road race champion Arlenis Sierra (Astana Women's Team) won the opening stage of the two-day Women's Herald Sun Tour in Shepparton, Victoria, on Wednesday, beating Anna Trevisi (Ale BTC Ljubljana) and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) from a reduced-bunch sprint, which included defending champion Lucy Kennedy (Mitchelton-Scott).

US team Tibco-SVB had split the Australian race apart in the crosswinds with 40 kilometres left to race of the 94km stage, but it was Mitchelton-Scott who continued the work to ensure that the front group of 25 riders stayed clear of a similarly sized group, with Tibco's Sarah Gigante and Roxsolt Attaquer's Justine Barrow among those losing 49 seconds to the front group, which may prove insurmountable on Thursday's final stage with its summit finish at the Falls Creek ski resort.

"I'm thrilled with the win," said Sierra after receiving her leader's jersey. "My team supported me well, despite the strength of the Mitchelton-Scott team today in the front group, but, by working well together, we came out on top.

"Tomorrow's stage is going to be very hard, but we have the leader's jersey, so we'll do our best to defend it. We'll just try to work as a team once again, and we'll see what happens, as it's a very long climb, so I'll just have to see how my legs respond," she said.

How it unfolded

The Roxsolt Attaquer team attacked relentlessly during the opening quarter of the stage, which started and finished in Shepparton, following the finish of stage 1 of the men's event in the town earlier in the day.

The Australian team's attempts to forge clear were consistently thwarted by the other squads, but it was eventually Tibco-SVB that forced the race's first significant split when, with 40km left to race, they put the hammer down on a stretch of road buffeted by crosswinds, and immediately put a number of riders into trouble at the back of the bunch.

Mitchelton-Scott took over to ensure that a group of 25 riders moved clear, and with their leader, Lucy Kennedy, having made the front group, they continued to push the pace, attempting to effectively eliminate as many overall contenders as possible.

Also making that front group were Jaime Gunning (Specialized Women's Racing) and Roxsolt Attaquer's Emily Herfoss, although Herfoss' teammate Justine Barrow was left on the wrong side of the split, as was Tibco's Sarah Gigante, who started the race as one of the big favourites to challenge Kennedy for the overall title.

In the end, the second group would lose 49 seconds on the stage, despite closing to almost within touching distance ahead of the day's second intermediate sprint with 19km to go, which was won by Roxsolt's Peta Mullens, and served to take the front group clear once more.

The four-strong Mitchelton squad continued to drive the head of the race, but it was eventual stage winner Arlenis Sierra's Astana squad that came to the front for the final kilometre, succeeding in setting up their sprinter for victory, while Anna Trevisi (Ale BTC Ljubljana) and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) filled the minor placings.

General classification