Lauren Kitchen has claimed 4th place in the overall General Classification and 3rd place in the Sprint Classification of the 2017 Santos Women’s Cycling Tour.
Kitchen was the leading rider home for the newly formed women’s cycling NSWIS Sydney Uni partnership in this Tour Down Under Classic.
Hailing from Port Macquarie, Kitchen let the other 101 riders know from the outset last Saturday she was one to watch finishing 10th overall in the tough 106.5 km, Stage 1 showdown and 7th in the Sprint Classification. Stage 1 was won in a time of 2h 51:01, with Kitchen at +1:01 in hot pursuit, just behind the first three.
A celebrated sprinter and road cyclist, Kitchen roared into 4th overall in the 32 km Adelaide Criterium Stage 2 and held 2nd position overnight in the highly-fancied Sprint Classification. Kitchen never released her grip over the final two stages, powering to steal the Lap 25 Sprint and points on offer in the last race.
The NSWIS Sydney Uni Santos Women’s Tour team comprised of Kitchen; Kirsten Howard; Ashlee Ankudinoff; Gina Ricardo; Nicola MacDonald and Emma Roberts, with Katie Brown as Team Manager. In the strongest field yet, the Santos Women’s Tour pitted 17 teams of six riders against each other over four stages from January 14 to 17, 2017.
The Tour encompassed two Adelaide city Criteriums, Stages 2 and 4 along with stages in the Barossa and Adelaide Hills. The fourth and final Criterium stage, mercifully held in the early evening of a sweltering Adelaide day, was bonanza for spectators who thrilled at the speed and intensity of the top riders going for broke around a 1.2 km course.
