Lucy Garner Jumps From Junior World Champion To Elite Winner

Last updated : 08 May 2013 By 2013 Tour of ChongMing

At the age of 18, British prodigy Lucy Garner of Argos-Shimano proved to be able to pick the level of the Elite riders as she emerged as the winner of stage 1 in the Tour of Chongming Island. It was an expected bunch gallop at the end of a 73.4km flat course – the highest part of the island being 4.5 metres above sea level. The double world champion for junior road race outsprinted by the length of a bike Australia’s Chloe Hosking of Hitec Products UCK and Russia’s Oksana Kozonchuk from RusVelo.

“I’m over the moon”, Garner reacted after the finish. “This is very big for me. I got the opportunity to sprint here against top sprinters but I didn’t expect to win so quickly.” The absence of world’s best sprinter Kirsten Wild, also from Argos-Shimano, played an important role in Garner’s coming of age in China. The Dutch fast woman was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury.

“It has given me the opportunity to sprint”, Garner noted. “Hopefully, I have made her proud today. But we’re also here with only for riders [instead of six]. My team-mates [Willeke Knol, Janneke Kanis and Amy Pieters] did everything they could to put me on the right wheel, which was important because the head wind was pretty strong for the finish.” The right wheel, as she said, was the one of former world champion Giorgia Bronzini of Wiggle Honda who came here as an arch-favorite right after winning the GP Elsy-Jacobs in Luxemburg.

Hosking accepted her defeat with no disappointment. “Being 18 and winning against experienced riders, that was me just a couple of years ago and Lucy is a pretty handy bike rider”, said the Australian wearer of the green jersey as her first place in the first intermediate sprint earned her the lead in the points classification. “I’m happy with my result. Second is pretty good. This is only the first stage. I’ll try and get a win soon. I’ve won this Tour in 2009 and I’d love to win it again. It’s good to take some seconds today for the overall classification.”

Hosking is only one second down on GC after stage 1. “I’ll definitely try and defend the yellow jersey”, Garner warned. “This is new to me and really unexpected, so we’ll take it day by day. To have a win is already very good. It was my dream to get the opportunity to race at this level. It’s great to do it here on such a nice island. I like this place.”

 

Brief results

Stage 1

1.     Lucy Garner (GBR) Argos-Shimano, 1.47.08

2.     Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec-Products UCK

3.     Oksana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo

4.     Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica-AIS

5.     Shelley Olds (USA) Tibco, all st

Overall

1.     Lucy Garner (GBR) Argos-Shimano, 1.47.08

2.     Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec-Products UCK, 0.01

3.     Annette Edmondson (Aus) Orica-AIS, 0.05

4.     Oksana Kozonchuk (Rus) RusVelo, 0.06

5.     Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica-AIS, 0.07

 

Jersey holders

-       Yellow: Lucy Garner (GBR) Argos-Shimano

-       Green: Chloe Hosking (Aus) Hitec-Products UCK

-       Blue (best Asian): Kim Eun Hee (Kor) Korea National team