Kristen Faulkner continues to crack into the top 10 at Internationale LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour after securing 7th place on stage three today in Schleiz.
After today’s performance, Faulkner sits 8th on GC, 30 seconds behind the leader, with three stages to go.
It was a relatively hectic start to stage 3, which featured three climbs, the last leading to the finishing moto circuit.
An early break of four riders got a maximum gap of eight and a half minutes, spurred on by a block headwind that plagued the first 45km. The wind turned to tailwinds and during the climbing portion of the latter half of the stage.
Tanja Erath during stage 3 of LOTTO Ladies Tour. Photo/Arne Mill
The second climb was about 70km in. The team had Clara Honsinger set a strong tempo at the front to whittle the bunch down. Then Trek-Segafredo took over the pace-making before a crash split the bunch. Faulkner was involved, but managed to return to the front group after some chasing.
“Unfortunately some of the riders near me crashed and fell into me, and I fell down with them,” Faulkner said. “That created a block in the road and split the peloton. I was able to get back up and chase down the front group, which I rode with until the end.”
“It was ‘race on’ at that point,” Hedderman said. “A small group containing Lucinda Brand from Trek-Segafredo, and Liane Lippert from Team DSM went up the road that broke the race up.”
Faulkner crossed the line with the group just behind and finished seventh on the stage.
“Kristen had a go attacking the final climb, but wasn’t able to get clear, but still, a great result that keeps us up there on GC. It was another good race today. It was a calm first half and a fairly hectic second half. We had some great rides,” Hedderman said. “Clara is finding her road legs and riding very strongly, and Kristen rode to another top ten finish amongst a select group, so I’m happy with how things are going and looking forward to the next stages.”
Tomorrow’s stage 4 is a 100km race starting and finishing in Dörtendorf.
GCN/Eurosport will offer highlights of the race after the finish.