Canadian Alison Jackson continued her impressive season by taking victory in stage two of the Women's Tour of Scotland on Saturday. The Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank rider was the narrow winner in a sprint finish ahead of Emma White (Rally-UHC) and Stine Borgli from the Norwegian national team.
The stage was the first to be fully completed after yesterday's race was abandoned due to flooding on the route, and leaves Jackson with an overall lead of four seconds going into Sunday's final stage in Edinburgh and the Borders.
How it happened
The longest of the three, the 138.7km stage between Glasgow and Perth began in aggressive style, with attacks going from, the gun. In a vast contrast to yesterday's deluge, the sunny weather seemed to encourage aggression as attacks kept on coming throughout the early kilometres.
The rain did make an appearance though, coming as the peloton began the ascent of Duke’s Pass where the race began to split into several groups, with a leading pack of 8 emerging from what was touted as the toughest climb of the entire race.
As the leaders descended they were joined by the ever-aggressive Slovenian, Ursa Pintar (BTC City-Ljubljana) forming a group of nine which included four from the Bigla team of favourite Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, though the Dane herself was absent.
With 50km behind them this strong group had a lead of 1.30 but the balance was not right and they were soon caught on the undulating terrain which followed the descent. However, shortly after the catch Jackson's Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank team mate Brodie Chapman launched further attack.
One of the favourites for the overall, the Australian had built a lead of 1.20 as the race entered the final 35km and, with the gap increasing it looked like a famous solo victory could be on cards. However, as the 25km marker approached, Lotto-Soudal launched Julie van der Velde up the road, bringing a reaction from the bunch and significantly reducing Chapman’s lead.
The Belgian was unable to get on terms with the American and left to dangle off the front of the peloton, which by now had her and Chapman in their sights.
Finally, as the Australian passed the 10km to go marker she was caught, initiating a series of further attacks from individual riders on the run into Perth. Each of those solo efforts was brought to heel and the race was set for a bunch sprint.
Sunday's closing stage starts and finishes in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, tackling 117.4km through the Scottish Borders and closing with three 4.8km lumpy, local circuits.
Result
Women’s Tour of Scotland, stage one: Glasgow - Perth (138.7km)
1. Alison Jackson (Can) Team Tibco Silicon Valley Bank in 3-24-37
2. Emma White (USA) Rally-UHC
3. Stine Borgli (Nor) Norway
4. Leah Thomas (USA) Bigla
5. Belle de Gast (Ned) PArkhotel Valkenburg
6. Ilaria Sanguinetti (Ita) Valcar Cylance
7. Jess Roberts (Gbr) Team GB
8. Abby-Mae Parkinson (Gbr) Drops
9. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ) Torelli-Assure-Madison
10 Eugenia Bujak (Slo) BTC City-Ljubljana all at same time
General classification after stage two
1. Alison Jackson (Can) Team Tibco-Silicon valley Bank in 3-24-37
2. Emma White (USA) Rally-UHC at 04 sec
3. Stine Borgli (Nor) Norway at same time
4. Leah Thomas (USA) Bigla at 07 sec
5. Eugenia Bujak (Slo) BTC City-Ljubljana at 08 sec
6. NA Ahreum (Kor) at 09 sec
7. Belle de Gaast (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg at 10 sec
8. Ilaria Sanguinetti (Ita) Valcar Cylance
9. Jess Roberts (Gbr) Team GB
10. Abby-Mae Parkinson (Gbr) Drops all at same time
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