Armitstead takes stage three victory at Ladies Tour of Qatar

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Elizabeth Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) moved into the leader's jersey at the Ladies Tour of Qatar after taking victory on stage three. The Boels Dolmans rider beat Shelly Olds (Bigla) and Lucinda Brand (Rabo Liv Women) in a sprint after another fine all-round display from the Boels Dolmans team. 

Armitstead took the race lead from teammate Ellen van Dijk, who made the split but finished in 16th on the stage after helping to lead Armitstead out. Van Dijk now sits second behind Armitstead at eight seconds. Chloe Hosking (Wiggle Honda), who rode aggressively to claim both intermediate sprints, finished just outside of the time bonuses at the line and is now third at nine seconds.

With just one stage remaining Armitstead looks to be in a strong position and on course to win her maiden Tour of Qatar crown but she and her team were made to work for the win after Wiggle Honda, and in particular, Chloe Hosking rallied with two excellent performances at the intermediate sprints.

Hosking, who came into the stage with a point to prove after finishing fourth on stage two, admitted to Cyclingnews that she was nervous as she lined up on the start line in Souq Waqif. However those nerves were quickly dispelled when she moved to within one second of the race lead after dominating the intermediates.

Boels Dolmans’s response was as emphatic as it was calculating. After tiring the field with a long section of headwind riding they set about splitting the peloton once the race turned east. The peloton quickly split but with five riders in the 14-strong group, Armitstead and her teammates had made their intentions clear.

Although more riders were able to regain contact the Dutch druganaut set volley after volley up the road in a bid to once again stretch the race to within breaking point.

Gracie Elvin (Orica AIS) and Jolien d'Hoore (Wiggle) were constantly attempting to break clear and at one point built up a slight lead but with less than four kilometres to go the peloton regrouped.

Wiggle had already played one card with d'Hoore but Hosking herself closed down a move containing Armitstead. Yet with 500 meters to go the bunch launched into their sprint.

Hosking could see the race lead up ahead but another miss-firing leadout from her and her team cost her dearly.

Armitstead on the other hand had no such problems. She and her team allowed Wiggle to blink first before launching her own sprint with less than 200 meters to go. Olds and Brand completed the top three with Hosking fourth and out of the bonus seconds.

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