Hannah Barnes sprinted to fourth as the Amgen Breakaway from Heart Disease Women’s Tour of California Empowered by SRAM wrapped up today in Sacramento. The final circuit stage saw Giorgia Bronzini (WHT) take the stage win and Anna van der Breggen (DLT) take the overall classification.

With just one second separating first and second on the general classification and several bonus seconds up for grabs on the stage it was guaranteed to be a hotly contested finale. The 70km stage had minimal breakaways as the GC contenders searched for bonus seconds and teams set up their sprinters for a long straight finish.

For British road champion Hannah Barnes, it was the first time she had sprinted for the win this season.  “It’s the first time since I broke my ankle that I put my hand up in the team meeting for the opportunity to sprint.”

“The team kept me safe and out of trouble. They put me in a good place from six laps to go. I started my sprint just under 300m to go and at that point was around sixth position and in the end was fourth.”

“It was good. A podium of course was the goal but for the first time really sprinting this year I’m happy with it. I know what I need to improve on and now I have the confidence to just get stuck in and go for it.”

The team will tomorrow, Monday 15 May be in the Rapha San Francisco clubhouse along with Canyon engineers from Germany, Erik Zabel from Canyon Team Prosport and several leading female journalists. Rapha will lead a recovery ride with the team around the headlands as they showcase the new Ultimate WMN CF SLX Disc bikes.

The team will be back at the Rapha San Francisco clubhouse in the evening for a social evening as they chat about the Amgen Tour of California and goals for the rest of the season.

Facebook

Twitter