Kristin Armstrong wins the stage 1 of the Cascade Cycling Classic Elite Men category
Kristin Armstrong of Team Exergy Twenty12 secured the first overall position during the opening stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic.
She completed the 119.4 kilometre stage 1 in the quickest time of 3 hours, 29 minutes and 56 seconds and bagged her first victory of the 2012 season.
The 38-year-old was delighted after the victory and thanked her team-mates for their continuous support through the race.
"Our goal was a stage win," Armstrong said. "And Andrea was a great person in the break, but once Jackie fell out of the break we were outnumbered. So I wanted to do everything I could to try and bridge across".
Megan Guarnier of Team Tibco finished 46 seconds behind at the second position, with Jade Wilcoxson, Andrea Dvorak and Alison Powers claiming the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.
"Kristin caught us and passed us all in one breath," Dvorak said. "She didn't give anyone a second to get on her wheel. Megan jumped to try and bridge up to her, and I was on Megan ready to attack if she ever caught Armstrong. But Armstrong is just at another level and was gone".
Jade Wilcoxson succeeded during the first sprint of the race while Lex Albrecht and Kristin Armstrong won the first and the second mountain respectively.
Ingrid Drexel Clouthier, Lex Albrecht, Lindsay Myers, Rachel Warner and Jacquelyn Crowell were the top five young female cyclists on the day.
Armstrong is now leading the stage 1 Elite Women general classifications with a lead of 46 seconds on Megan Guarnier of Team Tibco.
Jade Wilcoxson, Andrea Dvorak and Alison Powers claimed the third, the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Top ten cyclists after the stage 10 classifications are as below,
1
Kristin Armstrong (Exergy TWENTY12)
3:29:56
2
Megan Guarnier (Team TIBCO)
0:00:46
3
Jade Wilcoxson (Optum pb Kelly Benefit Strategies)
0:00:57
4
Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY12)
0:01:01
5
Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS)
0:01:06
6
Carmen Small (Optum pb Kelly Benefit Strategies)
0:01:10
7
Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY12)
0:01:15
8
Amanda Miller (Team TIBCO)
0:01:20
9
Miranda Griffiths (Optum pb Kelly Benefit Strategies)
0:01:41
10
Lauren Stephens (FCS|ROUSE p/b Mr. Restore)
0:02:11
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