Stage 4 of the Women's TDU saw a fascinating criterium circuit which was won by Alé - Cipollini's Chloe Hoskings, who timed her sprint to perfection and took her third final day Stage victory in as many years!
Photo Credit - Dailytelegraph.au
The final Stage of the Women's 2019 Tour Down Under saw an exciting 25 lap (1.7km each) circuit around Adelaide, with action straight from the gun in such a short Stage. The UniSA - Australia team immediately sent a rider up the road, but by the end of the first lap she had been reeled in and some sort of rhythm had ensued.
There were three immediate sprints at the end of laps 6, laps 12 & laps 18 respectively, with Sarah Roy (Mitchelton - Scott)'s blue Points jersey very much still up for grabs, with changes in the peleton also possible with the bonus points on offer. Chloe Hosking won the first sprint, Sarah Roy won the second after a three woman crash (including Trek - Segafredo's prospect Letizia Paternoster), and Chloe Hosking once again won in the third and final intermediate sprint - with the race now entering a very subdued period with little to no attacks off of the front.
Trek - Segafredo took complete control of the race in the closing kilometres, hoping that the crash hadn't taken too much out of Letizia Paternoster. In the bunch sprint, it had looked like the Italian was about to take the victory, but Chloe Hosking came out of Paternoster's slipstream in the final metres to take victory. Quite a feat for Letizia to still finish second after a pretty nasty crash however, and we'll definitely be hearing her name quite a bit in the immediate future!
Official Results obtained from procyclingstats
Stage 4 Results;
Final GC Standings;
Jersey Winners;
GC - Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton - Scott)
Points - Sarah Roy (Mitchelton - Scott)
QOM - Nadia Quagliotto (Alé - Cipollini)
Youth - Jamie Gunning (Specialized Women's Racing)
Team - Mitchelton - Scott
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