Cycling Australia

GreenEDGE-AIS rider Melissa Hoskins has sprinted home for an impressive win in the first stage of the Tour of Chongming Island in China.

In the crash-marred final sprint at the end of the 73.4km stage, Hoskins edged fellow Australian Rochelle Gilmore (Faren Honda Team) on the line, with Monia Baccaille (MCipollini Giambenini) claiming third.

In the two intermediate sprints, Hoskins claimed one win and a second place boosting the West Australian's confidence in what was expected to be a toughly contested sprint finish.

“I was confident as I knew I had a good team behind me,” said Hoskins, who claimed silver in both the scratch race and as a member of the pursuit team at the UCI Track World Championships last month in Melbourne. 

“Of course, we wanted a bunch sprint at the end, my team was absolutely fantastic. With five kilometres to go, they were on the front and we were ready to rock and roll.

"This is one of my first races with the team since the beginning of the year and today they’ve looked after me so well so I can’t see why we can’t hang onto the yellow jersey," Hoskins added. 

Hoskins now leads the overall classification by seven seconds over Baccaille, while Gilmore lies in third overall, a further two seconds back.

The Tour continues with a 118.4km stage on Thursday, before concluding on Friday.