Kendelle Hodges celebrates her Stage 5 victory. 72113
BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
WERRIBEE’S Kendelle Hodges capped off a superb Honda Hybrid Women’s Tour with a win in the final stage on Sunday.
Hodges won the fifth and final stage of the prestigious tour in the 18-lap criterium, staged on Lygon St.
She took the win ahead of Russian national team rider Venera Absaliyamova and tour winner Loren Rowney (Bundaberg Sugar), of the Gold Coast.
Hodges represented the VIS women’s road team, which came second overall behind the Russian team.
Hodges, Absaliyamova and Emma Lawson started to break at about the half-way mark and built up a 21-second lead. Lawson tailed off to join the pack, which narrowed the gap to 15 seconds, but Hodges and Absaliyamova held on to fight it out to the finish line.
Hodges said she tried to protect the overall lead of her team-mate Lisa Jacobs, but could not stop Rowney making up the four seconds required to take the lead and win the tour.
“We knew we had four seconds and Bundaberg were out to get the time bonuses, so we had to be aggressive and we just tried to pick whoever was in the right spot at the right time to get a break up the road,” Hodges said.
“Loren (Rowney) got the first sprint but we stopped the second. We only had two in the break, it would have been good to keep the three.
“The Russian worked really well today and it was just a shame Emma didn’t have it today to hang on.
We nearly did it but not quite, it’s still great to grab a stage win.”
Hodges rode solidly throughout the tour. On Saturday (stage 4), she did her bit to help Jacobs win the 40.5km mountain stage from Sorrento to Arthurs Seat, and on Thursday (stage 2), she dictated the pace early and finished the 41.6km Geelong criterium in fourth spot.
The Honda Hybrid Women’s Tour was the fifth of seven races in the national women’s tour. The final two are the Glen Innes to Inverell (22 October) and the Shipwreck Coast Classic (30 October).
