The 22-years-old Italian is sixth in the last stage and eighth in the final general classification
The new adventure with the Astana Women’s Team jersey started really well for Katia Ragusa: the 22-years-old Italian had a great day in the fourth and final stage of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under taking a double top 10 results, both in the stage and in the final general classification. The athletes competed today on the classic Adelaide circuit, 25 laps of 1700 meters each for a total of 42.5 very fast kilometers which were covered at almost 44 km/h: despite the flat course, around halfway through the race a breaway escaped from the peloton and Ragusa has managed to put herself and this move that in the end proved to be the decisive one with the peloton unable to close the last gap of 10″.
In the sprint came a sixth position for Katia Ragusa who, however, thanks to the good performances in the previous stages, made a significant leap forward in the general classification finishing in eighth place 34″ from the final winner of the Tour Down Under. «Today the plan was to bring Arlenis to the sprint in the best possible way – explained Ragusa after the race – but at some point I saw that the group of attackers was quite large, the bunch hesitated a bit and then I moved and I managed to catch the front. Then in the sprint I tried to do my best. I didn’t expect to finish in the top 10 overall and as a seasonal debut I consider it quite positive: there is certainly room for improvement, but I say that everything is going very well and I am happy with the harmony that is being created within the team».