Winder wins the Women’s Tour Down Under as Frapporti claims the final stage
ADELAIDE, Australia (CT) – US champion Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) has held on to a narrow advantage to win the 2020 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under. Simona Frapporti (BePink) took out stage honours in a sprint from a breakaway.
Winder went into the final-stage circuit race with a seven-second advantage over Liane Lippert (Sunweb) and Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott). Both riders snagged time bonuses throughout the day, but not enough to take the ochre leader’s jersey from Winder’s shoulders.
Contested over 25 laps of a 1.7 km circuit in central Adelaide, the race was held in cool and blustery conditions. At the first intermediate sprint — after six laps — Lippert took three bonus seconds to move within four seconds of Winder’s lead. The second intermediate sprint — after 12 laps — saw Spratt take two seconds and Winder take one.
In the handful of laps that followed, a breakaway group of 11 got clear of the peloton. The third intermediate sprint — after 18 laps — was contested by the breakaway with Jaime Gunning (Specialized Women’s Racing) the first across the line.
Four-time Kiwi road champion Rushlee Buchanan (Vantage New Zealand) attacked from the break on lap 21 and got as far as 12 seconds ahead, as the peloton to slipped to 30 seconds behind. Buchanan was caught on the final lap before Frapporti sprinted to victory. Lauren Stephens (Tibco) was second, to add to her third place a day earlier, while Buchanan rallied from her previous effort to finish third.
Frapporti winning stage 4 of the Women’s Tour Down Under.
In the bunch, 26-year-old Winder crossed the line without hassle to secure the overall victory. Lippert finished second at five seconds behind while three-time champion Spratt was third at six seconds.
More to come …
Stage result
GC
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