By Rizwan Rehmat

DOHA: A dramatic crash involving four-time champion Kirsten Wild yesterday threw the Ladies Tour of Qatar title race wide open as Australian rider Katrin Garfoot won the second stage with an admirable solo effort that helped her grab the leader’s golden jersey.

Wild riding for Hitec Products went down with a broken chain yesterday but Garfoot (Orica-GreenEdge) remained calm as she weaved her way through to win the 120km stage in a time of 3 hours 07:13 seconds.

German rider Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM) finished the final sprint at Al Khor Corniche in second with Dutch rider Amy Pieters (Wiggle-High5) claiming third place.

Garfoot 34 made her getaway some 40 kilometers from the finish line as riders struggled with crosswinds in the north of the country.

As the leading group split in two in the final kilometres Garfoot surged ahead of the packs and closed out stage two with a satisfying win. It was a welcome relief for the Australian who won the Tour Down Under and the national time-trial titles last month.

With Wild riding on a replacement bike Garfoot added valuable time to her general classification lead and now enjoys a 17-second advantage over Trixi going into day three today. Pisters is 19 seconds adrift of Garfoot.

“I was relaxed and came out really well. No I did not expect that (win) at all” Garfoot said. “I did not event think about it.”

The Australian said she was not thinking of the next two stages.

“Not at all. One stage at a time. I will look at the next stage later. (I will) think about it tomorrow. Will celebrate this stage win maybe with tea and some sweets” she said with a smile.

“We had a head start with a bit of training back home in January. I trained really hard. So I assume getting back into hard training gives me an advantage here. Other riders came here with basic training. I have done many miles already” Garfoot said.

“That’s correct - I was doing really well at the end of last year. I broke my shoulder blade and that made me wait as I could not train hard” Garfoot said when asked about her struggles late in 2015.

Under a cloudy sky and fairly mild temperatures a total of 90 riders took off at 12:30pm. After a first attempt at the 3-km mark Swedish rider Alexandra Nessmar managed to break free from the pack and was later joined by Yue Bai of China.

Both ladies enjoyed a maximum 2’20 advantage at the 39-km mark before seeing the pack move closer.

The two reached the first intermediate sprint - won by Bai - with a 35-second lead but they were eventually caught a kilometre later.

That’s precisely when the real action unfolded among the top contenders of the race. Making the best of the crosswind a group of 11 ladies powered away but Wild was left stranded with a broken chain. The Dutch star remained with the bunch nevertheless.

At the front were Chloe Hosking and Marta Tagliaferro the two best placed riders in the GC.

After having a 15-second lead the front group was caught by 15 other ladies at the 60km-mark. The leading 26 continued their progression. The second bonus sprint (92kms) was won by Shelley Olds ahead of Hosking and Gracie Elvin.

At the 102-km mar 10 riders took off at the front including Hosking Longo Borghini Pieters Van Dijk Kasper Worrack Cromwell Guarischi Elvin and Garfoot.

Moving closer to the finish in Al Khor four riders Pieters Kasper Worrack and Garfoot made the decisive move to surge ahead.

Just before the final kilometre Garfoot managed the perfect attack and powered off.

The Australian would never be caught and she victoriously crossed the finish line with a 13-second gap over Worrack and Pieters.

“I came here to get a good hard training session so it (the stage win) just happened. That’s good. I love it. It was pretty slow at the beginning until the first sprint. And then the splitting happened and then the crosswind happened. We were prepared for that. Most of us did not make it to the first sprint. “But our group worked really well. There were 25 of us. We kept them working. And for some reason I ended up in the front and that was my luck today” Garfoot said.

“It wasn’t that strong today. I don’t think it was average and it was enough to break up the group. Generally I don’t like the wind. But it is good training and hard training and that’s why we are here” she said.

“I don’t know what will happen over the course of the next two days. I am not sure what the plans will be like in the next two days” Garfoot said.

“I didn’t expect to win the stage so I haven’t thought about it. Will check with the team. We will see. We still have some cards to play.

“A lot of things here are different. The hotels are amazing. The food is great. On the road it is very flat. It is very fast and very windy. It was that wasn’t windy but overall it is windy. It’s a bit like Holland racing” Garfoot said.

The Peninsula