The first day of LToQ is done and with success for the girls of Hitec Products. The 97km stage was considered a preview of the World Championships course in October. It had two intermediate sprints where the riders could fight for 3″, 2″ and 1″ bonus seconds. Kirsten won the first sprint at 39km and gained valuable seconds for the leaders jersey. In the final it came down to a sprint where Kirsten proved to be the strongest and could celebrate her 10th stage win in Qatar. Gaining another 10 bonus seconds for her victory she now holds a lead of 7″ ahead of Annalisa Cucinotta (Alé Cippolini) and 9″ ahead of Lizzie Williams (Orica AIS).
An interview with Kirsten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQBkPm1lhQ