Women's Tour de Yorkshire: Wild wins stage 1

Image 1 of 3

Kirsten Wild (Wiggle-High5) won the opening stage of the 2018 Women's Tour de Yorkshire, beating Amalie Dideriksen (Boels-Dolmans) and Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) to the line in a bunch sprint in Doncaster.

The Dutchwoman was the heavy favourite, having triumphed on this very same finish in 2016 when the race was a one-day event, and duly delivered with a powerful seated sprint.

With a time bonus of 10 seconds for her victory, she pulls on the first blue leader's jersey in the history of the race, this being its first running as a two-day affair 

"I'm really happy with a finish like this. When I heard it was the same finish as two years ago I was very excited," Wild said in her post-race flash interview. "It's really cool to win, and after such hard work from the team it makes it even more cool to win."

The opening stage from Beverley to Doncaster was always likely to culminate in a bunch sprint, with just one categorised climb on the 132.5km route. The Côte de Baggaby Hill came after 40km and, after getting into an early break, 17-year-old Georgi Pfeiffer (Jadan-Weldtite Vive le Velo) hung on to claim the queen of the mountains jersey. The peloton then reformed before a more serious break went clear but, containing just two riders - Anna Christian (Trek-Drops) and Natalie van Gogh (Parkhotel Valkenburg) - it was never a real threat to the sprinters' teams in the peloton.

Wiggle-High5 kept well hidden on the run-in to Doncaster, and perhaps profited from errors from rivals in the final couple of kilometres. First Sunweb misjudged a roundabout and ceded their position on the front to Wiggle, and less than a kilometre later Canyon-SRAM misread the final bend, taking their nominated sprinter Hannah Barnes out of the equation.

Wild found herself on the front and in the wind earlier than expected but didn't panic, instead taking a calm look over her shoulder before deciding to put the power down. Dideriksen struck out but was unable to match Wild's speed, while Alice Barnes emerged from the former world champion's wheel to take a creditable third place and a consolation prize for Canyon-SRAM.

"I was looking if I could wait a little bit because Canyon made a mistake in the last corner and we were a bit too early on front, and didn't want to pull the other sprinters," explained Wild.

"It might look easy but with a sprint it never is - it's maximum effort."

Wild now leads the general classification by four seconds, with Dideriksen in second place and Alice Barnes third at six seconds.

In fourth place, also at six seconds, is Dani Rowe (Great Britain) who made a canny play for bonus seconds ahead of Friday's hillier final stage. The Welshwoman struck out at the first intermediate sprint at Pocklington to claim three seconds, and then claimed a further second - the breakaway duo had snaffled the first two spots - at the second sprint in Howden.

The race concludes on Friday with a summit finish on the so-called Côte de Cow and Calf and while Rowe has designs on the overall victory, Wild knows she'll be handing over that blue jersey.

"I think we don't defend my jersey but we try to get the jersey for someone else," she said of her team's tactics. "We have really strong riders who are made for the course tomorrow, and I'm not. I hope to give something back to the girls."

Full Results