Australian all-rounder Alex Manly powered to her first ever WorldTour victory in a thrilling finale to stage four of the Tour of Scandinavia, edging out experienced sprinter Chloe Hosking to take the phenomenal win.
The victory makes it a dream day for Team BikeExchange-Jayco, after Dylan Groenewegen blasted to glory one hour earlier at the Arctic race of Norway.
It was a relentless day of racing as a barrage of attacks were launched throughout the 119km stage, with moves coming and going throughout the final 50km. Team BikeExchange-Jayco were never far from the action and were either closing down or joining the endless attacks off the front of the strung-out peloton.
Despite a number of riders briefly going clear, it wasn’t until the final 10km when Manly made her move as she jumped across to lone leader Alice Barnes. The pair worked well together to open up a gap and hold a steady advantage, but with 5km to go the move looked to be doomed as the bunch closed in.
However, a lull in the chase allowed four riders to bridge across to Manly and Barnes, with the new additions adding more firepower to the break and boosting their chances of survival.
As the race passed under the one kilometre to go banner the peloton were within touching distance and sensing the pack rapidly closing in, Manly launched her sprint with 250 metres to go. The rider from Adelaide surged clear, before kicking again to take a narrow victory, her sixth win of the season, as the bunch made the catch on the line.
The win catapults Manly up the general classification to second place overall with two stages remaining.
Alex Manly (1st):
“It’s a bit surreal to be honest, I’ve been trying to do this all year but kept making mistakes and today it wasn’t the plan to do what I did, but the opportunity was there so I couldn’t not take it.
I have to say thanks so much to all these girls, everybody worked so hard today. We really wanted to make it an aggressive race but when the attacks kicked off, we were quite tired. In the end, it just opened up again because we made it hard in the middle.
I am really glad to pull it off because the girls have been working really hard for me for a long time now. The final was all just racing on instinct, it wasn’t really a part of the plan. The race was breaking up and I was feeling good, so when you feel good you have to go.
I think I am just really lucky that the group split, and we had a few more riders come across to us, as when we were just two riders I didn’t think we were going to make it, so it is just really good to win today.”
2022 Tour of Scandinavia Stage 4 – Results:
- Alex Manly (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) 2:53:44
- Chloe Hosking ST
- Laura Tomasi ST
2022 Tour of Scandinavia Stage 4 – GC:
- Marianne Vos 13:21:52
- Alex Manly (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:20
- Shari Bossuyt +0:22
