Hannah Barnes sprinted to second place today in the final 2018 UCI Women’s WorldTour race, at GREE Tour of Guangxi in Guilin, China. The race was won by Arlenis Sierra (Astana Women’s Team), narrowly beating Barnes in a small bunch sprint.

The 145km was raced in tough conditions with continuous rain from start to finish. The early flat kilometres were raced conservatively but the race action came in full force as the peloton hit the two small climbs, with around 40km to the finish.

While Tanja Erath (who sprinted to second in the first intermediate sprint), and Christa Riffel did their work early in the race, it was Alena Amialiusik who bridged across or covered other attacks in the final part of the race.

“We knew we had to race smart, starting with only four riders,” said Barnes after the finish.

“Everyone was racing well, and then after the climbs Alena was doing a lot of work. Covering moves and bridging across to others. It meant I was able to save for the final.”

“Alena led me out to 200m to go and I launched my sprint. It’s a shame that Sierra came around me in the final metres. But I’m still happy with the second place,” added Barnes.

Amialiusik, Barnes, Erath and Riffel will now take their end of season break, before joining CANYON//SRAM Racing’s winter training camp in Spain, in early December.

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