Tara Whitten wins the opening stage of the Exergy Tour 2012
Tara Whitten of Team Tibco-To the Top bagged her second victory of the season after her tremendous performance during the opening stage of the Exergy Tour 2012.
She finished the 3.2 kilometre race in a quickest time of 4 minutes and 9 seconds.
Gillian Carleton of Team Canadian National Team finished .34 seconds behind at the second position.
Clara Hughes of Team Specialized-lululemon and her team-mate Ina Yoko Teutenberg finished at the third and the fourth position in the respective order.
The 31-year-old was delighted after the stage victory and thanked her team-mates for their continuous support throughout the race.
She briefed, “I went pretty early on in the evening, so I new there was an absolutely world class field coming behind me”.
“I was definitely quite nervous hearing the times as people came across the line. I didn't really have any expectations”.
“I just wanted to go as hard as I could, so I was happy with how I went”.
“It was over a lot faster than I thought it would be, which was kind of nice because I was hurting”.
“I always take a bit of pride in my prologue performances, because as a track rider I feel I have to represent the 3k distance”.
Gillian Carleton of Canadian National Team, Jacquelyn Crowell of Team Exergy Twenty12, Tiffany Cromwell of Team GreenEdge-AIS, Leah Kirchmann of Team Optum Pro Cycling and Emilia Fahlin of Team Specialized-lululemon were the top five riders on the day.
Tara Whitten is now holding the top spot after the stage 1 classifications with Gillian Carleton of Canadian national Team at the second spot.
Clara Hughes of Team Specialized-lululemon is 1 second behind at the third spot while her team-mates Ina Yoko Teutenberg and Evelyn Stevens hold the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Top ten cyclists after the end of first stage are as under,
1
Tara Whitten (Can) Team Tibco - To the Top
0:04:09
2
Gillian Carleton (Can) Canadian National Team
3
Clara Hughes (Can) Team Specialized-lululemon
0:00:01
4
Ina Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) Team Specialized-lululemon
0:00:03
5
Evelyn Stevens (USA) Team Specialized-lululemon
6
Alison Powers (USA) NOW and Novartis for MS
7
Shara Gillow (Aus) GreenEdge-AIS
0:00:04
8
Jade Wilcoxson (USA) Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
0:00:06
9
Trixi Worrack (Ger) Team Specialized-lululemon
10
Amber Neben (USA) Team Specialized-lululemon
0:00:07
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