Just like the year before, Mylène de Zoete (Ceratizit-WNT) won the opening stage of the Tour of Chongming Island, beating Tereza Neumanová (UAE Team ADQ) in the mass sprint. After her teammate Marta Lach launched a late attack, De Zoete sat on the wheel of eventual runner-up Neumanová.
“I lost the girls just before the last corner, it was chaotic, as always, then I saw Marta up ahead in the attack and thought ‘OK, that’s nice’, De Zoete told Cyclingnews.
“I just followed this wheel in front of me, because I was quite well-positioned in front. We caught Marta in the last 300 metres, I think, and then I started sprinting.”
Earlier in the race, Ceratizit-WNT had been very successful in the day’s two intermediate sprints – but instead of collecting bonus seconds for just one rider, they had De Zoete, Lach, and Kathrin Schweinberger all take time bonifications.
“It was the plan to sprint for the bonus seconds with several girls because we are all fast, and we all wanted to see how we would do in those sprints. We actually helped each other well doing it, that was nice, and we all got some seconds,” explained De Zoete.
For the two upcoming stages, the team’s strategy will be ‘don’t change a winning tactic’.
“I think tomorrow [Wednesday] we will do the same as today, also for the intermediate sprints, but again with several girls, probably, and then sprint for the stage as well,” De Zoete finished.
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Neumanová was leading the sprint until the final 25 metres when De Zoete came past. The 26-year-old Czech had a challenging 2024 season with several injuries, and the second place is her best result of the year so far.
“I’m very happy with this podium because it’s been a difficult season for me, with physical problems causing a lot of stress. To be on the podium today is really rewarding. The win was very close, and while it’s a bit disappointing not to have taken it, I think we can be proud of our performance,” she said.
“We are here with a small team, just four riders, we plan to use other teams in finale and gamble a bit. We tried to go for intermediate sprints with Eleonora Gasparrini, but not with the whole team. And when other teams focused on it, it was quite hard.”
“I had amazing support from my teammates, and when you trust each other, it always works well. Eleonora did great work for me in the final kilometre, and I knew on the top of the bridge, when she went out, I needed to start my sprint so I wouldn’t lose the momentum of speed. Unfortunately, we were missing a bit for the win. But we will try again tomorrow,” added Neumanová.
