Lauren Hall wins second stage and Veronique Fortin takes overall lead in 2011 Tour De Toona
Colavita/Forno d’Asolo team’s Lauren Hall won the second stage of 2011 Tour de Toona in Altoona. Veronique Fortin took the overall leader’s jersey, on July 9.
Lauren Hall took a total of 5 hours, 20 minutes and 17 seconds to cover the distance of 147.5 kilometres. Anne Samplonius was the runner-up with 3 seconds behind Hall.
After winning the stage, Lauren Hall said, "I'm still in a little bit of shock and I can't believe it happened, actually, I'm really excited. I attacked with under a kilometre to go, then I saw 500 metres to go and I just told myself to keep on going. Once
I saw 200 metres to go I knew I had it and I couldn't believe it."
Her team-mate, Janel Holcomb, finished in the third spot with a difference of 2 minutes and 7 seconds, ahead of Veronique Fortin (PK Express/HNZ Strategic.com) and Kayte Boyd (BikeNZ).
Kathleen Billington (Danbury Audi/Velo Classic Tour) was in good form and tried her best to take a lead, but she failed and grabbed the fifteenth place with a difference of 6 minutes and 43 seconds, ahead of Jaime Nielson.
A group of six cyclists, Lauren Hall, Anne Samplonius, Laura Van Gilder, Jennifer Wheeler (TIBCO-To the Top), Kathleen Billington (Danbury-Audi) and Joanie Caron (Juvederm-Specialized), made their first breakaway. Breakaways riders unexpectedly gained a
margin of 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
Race officials allowed all the peloton to get back on track and with 15 kilometres left in the race, all the peloton riders increased their pace and joined back with the breakaway cyclists. Officials started the race again and breakaway cyclists were in
first, followed by the peloton.
Hall further added, “She has been around for a while with tons of pedal strokes in her legs, and that counts. She attacked and I stuck it out but she couldn't shack me. She attacked again on the last climb and my legs were hurting so bad that I could hardly
stand up."
In the last 1 kilometre, Hall launched the attack and took the stage victory, ahead of the other cyclists. Veronique Fortin took the overall lead with a timing of 8 hours, 57 minutes and 18 seconds, while Janel Holcomb was in the second spot with 1 minute
and 15 seconds behind Fortin.
Tara Whitten (TIBCO) finished in the third position with a difference of 2 minute and 16 seconds. Fortin also took the title of overall sprint classification with 17 points ahead of Samplonius. Anne Samplonius took the King of Mountain title with 21 points
ahead of Fortin.
The third stage of the race will conclude with a 56 kilometre, 30-lap criterium in downtown Altoona.
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