Women's Tour - Stage 6: City of Wellington criterium 35km

Evans takes final stage, overall classification

By: Greg Johnson

USA National Team’s Shelley Evans has claimed the Women’s Tour of New Zealand overall victory on debut in an International Cycling Union (UCI) ranked stage race. Evans sealed the overall title in emphatic style, winning a 20-strong sprint to claim her fourth stage victory and add another 10 seconds to her winning margin.
Evans won the final stage ahead of Australia’s Kristy Broun (Australian Institute of Sport) and Joanne Kiesanowski (New Zealand National Team). Kiesanowski was just the third New Zealand rider to finish on a stage podium at their home race this week.

Behind Evans the top riders on general classification experienced no change on the final stage. Her team-mate Amber Neben took second place, while Tiffany Cromwell’s (Australian Institute of Sport) third place secured her the best young rider classification win.

Just 20 riders finished the final criterium stage, after 55 riders were lapped by the lead group throughout the stage. The small number of riders finishing the event meant the overall classifications looked remarkably lean, with the USA National Team claiming the teams victory over the only other squad with enough finishing riders to classify – Australian Institute of Sport.

Evans’ victory is the second consecutive overall win by a rider making her UCI stage race debut, after Amber Halliday’s victory in 2009. While Halliday snuck away to a solo victory on one of last year’s road stages, Evans victory came thanks to her accumulation of time bonuses from stage victories coupled with a strong second place in the 11 kilometre time trial on stage four.

Final GC

Place Surname, Name Team Stage Six Total Time/Gap
1 EVANS Shelley USA 1:03:09 12:33:00 + 12:33:00
2 NEBEN Amber USA 1:03:19 12:33:16 + 00:00:16
3 CROMWELL Tiffany* AIS 1:03:19 12:33:45 + 00:00:45
4 CORSET Ruth NAS 1:03:19 12:33:51 + 00:00:51
5 JACOBS Lisa NTI 1:03:19 12:34:02 + 00:01:02
6 VILLUMSEN Linda NLZ 1:03:19 12:34:06 + 00:01:06
7 TAYLOR Cherise* NAS 1:03:19 12:34:24 + 00:01:24
8 SPRATT Amanda AIS 1:03:19 12:34:26 + 00:01:26
9 MUSTONEN Sara HIT 1:03:19 12:34:37 + 00:01:37
10 LIU Xin GIA 1:03:19 12:34:49 + 00:01:49
11 BRADSHAW Toni LIT 1:03:19 12:35:00 + 00:02:00
12 SHERIDAN Serena CYC 1:03:19 12:35:06 + 00:02:06
13 LIGHT Carly AIS 1:03:19 12:35:34 + 00:02:34
14 KIESANOWSKI Joanne NLZ 1:03:15 12:35:32 + 00:02:32
15 MORITA Masami JPN 1:03:19 12:35:41 + 00:02:41
16 GILLOW Shara AIS 1:03:19 12:36:06 + 00:03:06
17 KITCHEN Lauren* AIS 1:03:19 12:38:51 + 00:05:51
18 MERCER Rachel* HAN 1:03:19 12:40:55 + 00:07:55
19 PHILLIPS Jessica USA 1:03:19 12:48:26 + 00:15:26
20 BROUN Kirsty AIS 1:03:19 13:00:44 + 00:27:44

Final Under 23

Place Surname, Name Team Total Time/Gap
1 CROMWELL Tiffany* AIS 12:33:45 12:33:45
2 TAYLOR Cherise* NAS 12:34:24 00:00:39
3 KITCHEN Lauren* AIS 12:38:51 00:05:06
4 MERCER Rachel* HAN 12:40:55 00:07:10

Final Teams

Place Team Total Time / Gap
1 USA National Team 37:40:52 37:40:52
2 AIS Australia National Team 37:42:57 @ 0:02:05

Winner R+R Queen of the Mountains

Rutt Corset - Nashua team

Winner Lithoprint Sprints Competition

Kirsty Brown - AIS Team
 

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