Sofie van Rooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) secured her first victory of the season, and the overall lead, at the Tour of Chongming island with a perfectly timed sprint to win stage 2 on Wednesday.The 128.6km stage finished in Chongming, following a route from Shanghai.
Van Rooijen launched her sprint from the wheel of elisa Balsamo (lidl-Trek), overtaking the Italian in the final meters. Mia Griffin (Roland Le Dévoluy) finished second, with Balsamo taking third place. This result comes after a controversial stage 1 where austrian champion Kathrin schweinberger (Human Powered Health) initially crossed the line first but was relegated, awarding the stage win and overall lead to Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco). Van Rooijen had finished third on stage 1.
The Tour of Chongming Island is a 2.Pro-level stage race on the UCI calendar, attracting a strong field of international riders. The race concludes on Thursday with a 111.4km stage 3 around Chongming New City Park, featuring a 3km finishing straight.
