Valentina Scandolara wins Santos Women’s Tour; Mel Hoskins sprints to stage 4 victory

Italian Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) won the inaugural Santos Women’s Tour. It is the first general classification win for the 24-year-old. The four day stage race held in and around Adelaide concluded with a 70 minute criterium in Victoria Park on Tuesday evening.

Melissa Hoskins, Scandolara’s teammate, showcased her quick turn of speed to beat out former two-time world champion Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Down Under) to the line. Scandolara rounded out the stage podium. It was a hugely successful series for Australia’s only UCI-registered squad. Orica-AIS won three of the four stages, the general classification and the team overall.

“It’s been great,” said Hoskins, who not only won stages 2 and 4 but also finished second overall. “It’s been awesome riding back with these girls. I haven’t been with them since last year, and they backed me 100% today. We wanted to keep the jersey, and we did that – and we walked away with the stage win. We’re happy tonight.”

“It’s been wonderful these days,” Scandolara added. “I think today people saw how great Orica is. It’s amazing. We once again kept the jersey and got the win, so I’m really, really happy.”

The race was action-packed from lap one with several intermediate sprints and KOM laps to guarantee a lively race. Green jersey wearer Nettie Edmondson (Wiggle Down Under) used the intermediate sprints to confirm her lead in the points competition while Loren Rowney (Roxsolt) easily added to her point tally in the KOM competition to win the red polka dot jersey.

Strong winds encouraged attacks and a punishing pace. Fifteen minutes into the race, the main bunch had broken into two distinct groups. Scandolara had all of her teammates with her in the 20-rider lead group.

“I don’t think we were thinking properly to be honest,” admitted Hoskins. “I was looking down after only 15 minutes, and I was already in the red zone. We backed it off a little bit after that. We wanted to see if it was possible to split it, but it was a long hour. We had to hedge our bets, and we also had to cover all the moves. We did that. Everyone was all over everything.”

The two main groups on the road eventually re-joined. Wiggle Down Under, Roxsolt, Holden and High5 Dream Team were amongst the squads that attempted to attack their way up the road during the second half of the race. None of the teams were able to translate their efforts into a move with staying power.

“There were many attacks, but I was really confident because my teammates and I were always there,” said Scandolara. “We controlled the race very well, and we got the best out of it.”

With three laps left to go, Loes Gunnewijk (Orica-AIS) took a long turn on the front of the bunch. It would be the start of the long effort made by the Orica-AIS sprint train to deliver Hoskins to the line and her second stage win.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” noted Hoskins. “It’s not often that we can actually pull off a lead-out sprint like that. It wasn’t part of the plan. It just all fell into place. Loes was on the front for two laps, and she killed it. The rest of the girls were awesome. I didn’t have to bark any orders at all. They were unreal.”

Hoskins managed to avoid a near-disaster in the run-in to the line.

“We almost binned it in the last corner,” Hoskins said. “We were going really quick. I came out of the last corner and put the head down. If Giorgia went past me, then Giorgia went past me. I looked between the legs and saw daylight.”

Stage 4 Result

• Number of starters: 82
• Riders abandoning the race: 23

General Classification

Final Result

Sprint Classification

Final Result

Intermediate Sprints

Lap 5 Sprint

Lap 9 Sprint

Lap 16 Sprint

Mountains Classification

Final Result

Hill Climbs

Lap 8 Climb

Lap 11 Climb

Lap 14 Climb

Stage Awards

Stage Aggressor

Teams Stage Result

Teams General Classification

Final Result