Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) won the sprint finish on stage three to move into the leader’s jersey at the 2020 Women’s Tour Down Under.
The American national road race champion saw off Liane Lippert (Sunweb) and Lauren Stephens (TIBCO-SVB) to cross the line first, picking up time bonuses and moving into the race lead, displacing Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) who finished tenth on the stage.
Lippert moves into second on GC, seven seconds down, while Spratt sits in third on the same deficit.
Speaking after the stage, Winder said: “My teammate Tayler Wiles, she was just leading me out perfectly. I was talking to her the whole time, we’ve been teammates for years and she’s helped me with so many wins, so every time I do I feel so grateful for her in the last 500 metres.
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“The whole team the entire race was really active at the front covering things, making sure I was really safe until the circuits, which were pretty hard with Mitchelton-SCOTT destroying it on the times pretty much.”
Tomorrow’s final stage four will see a flat Adeliade circuit decide the overall victor, with bonus seconds available at intermediate sprints that could help decide the general classification.
Results
Women’s Tour Down Under 2020: Stage three, Nairne to Stirling (109.1km)
1. Ruth Winder (USA) Trek-Segafredo, in 2-51-16
2. Liane Lippert (Ger) Sunweb
3. Lauren Stephens (USA) TIBCO-SVB
4. Peta Mullens (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer
5. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Rally Cycling Women
6. Anastasiia Chursina (Rus) Alé BTC Ljubljana
7. Ella Harris (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing
8. Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope
9. Rachel Neylan (Aus) UniSA-Australia
10. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time
General classification after stage three
1. Ruth Winder (USA) Trek-Segafredo, in 9-12-26
2. Liane Lippert (Ger) Sunweb, at seven seconds
3. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at same time
4. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Rally Cycling Women, at 30s
5. Leah Kirchmann (Can) Sunweb, at 33s
6. Peta Mullens (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer, at 34s
7. Lauren Stephens (USA) TIBCO-SVB, at same time
8. Juliette Labous (Fra) Sunweb, at 36s
9. Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, at 37s
10. Ella Harris (Nzl) Canyon SRAM Racing, at same time
