Women's Tour: Majerus wins in Kettering

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Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) took victory on the third stage of the Women’s Tour into Kettering. Barbera Guarischi (Velocio SRAM) took second with Lucy Garner (Liv-Plantur) rounding out the podium. The win for Majerus comes just days after her teammate Lizzie Armitstead won the opening stage, but was forced to abandon when she crashed after the finish line.

Majerus, the current Luxembourg national road race champion, finished second on stage two, and then today pulled out a two-second gap on the other sprinters, which was enough to make her the race leader.

"It was a good day, exactly as we planned it and it's always nice when that happens,” said Majerus. "I was so well protected by my team-mated that I couldn't not win! We had a close look at the finish in advance and that last chicane suited me because I am pretty good at cornering. When I got through the corner and saw the gap I realised this might be my day so I just went for it.

"The yellow jersey was a nice bonus. I definitely wanted to try and win the stage but it was only when I was sitting at the podium waiting for the presentation that I got told I was the yellow jersey as well."

At a shade over 139 kilometres, the third stage from Oundle to Kettering was the longest of the race. Blue skies and sunshine bathed the riders as they sat on the start line in Oundle. There were two non-starters with Joanna Rowsell (Pearl Izumi Sport Tours) and Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) not signing in. Rivera was suffering with a broken collarbone following a crash yesterday.

Despite the long day ahead of them, it was a fast start to the day with the peloton speeding along at over 50kph at points. The high speeds made it difficult for a breakaway to get away; there was a brief split in the bunch as they went through the first intermediate sprint but it soon came back together. Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), who started the day third in the classification, took the top spot to add three points to her tally.

The attacks continued to come including a concerted effort from Bigla’s Vera Koedooder, who spent 100 kilometres out front on stage 2 but it wasn’t to be. The high pace and rolling roads took their toll and the peloton split into two groups after 55 kilometres of racing. The gap went out to 15 seconds before the chasers finally regained touch.

It wasn’t until Chloe McConville (Orica-AIS) made a move after the first climb that a break began to take shape and after 70 kilometres of racing they had 38 seconds on the peloton. As the peloton jostled behind ahead of the second intermediate sprint and QOM, the two riders were allowed to build an advantage of 1:30. In between the leaders and the peloton, Sharon Laws (Bigla) set off in chase. Lex Albrecht (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) would follow suit but after some time.

After a lengthy pursuit, Laws finally joined forces with the two riders out front as they neared the 100 kilometre mark. Albrecht would get within 20 seconds of the leading trio but couldn’t bridge the gap. With less than 40 kilometres remaining the escapees had a 3:30 advantage on the peloton. That would be the most they were allowed to have with many teams interested in a bunch sprint at the finish.

The escapees were finally reeled in with three kilometres of racing and the expected sprint finish came to fruition with Majerus sealing the win by a substantial margin.

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