The HiTec Products rider claimed Stage 1 of the 2016 edition ahead of Annaliza Cucinotta (Alé Cipollini) and Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS) and capture her 10th stage victory in Qatar and the race lead.
Ideal conditions and almost no wind welcomed the 90 riders of the 8th edition for the start of the 99km first stage Stage 1 of the event at the Qatar University.
After a fairly quiet start, the real action started just before the first intermediate sprint of the day when teams Orica-AIS and Boels-Dolmans powered to the front of the bunch.
Eventually the peloton broke up into two groups leaving 46 riders in the lead. The first intermediate sprint was claimed by Wild ahead of Chloe Hosking (Wiggle-High5) and Marta Tagliaferro (Alé Cipollini) while the dropped riders were 35 seconds adrift.
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Five kilometres later, the peloton was again back together and stayed that way until it hit the circuit at Qatar University ahead of the second intermediate sprint, which was won by Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans).
Well controlled by the strong sprinting teams, the peloton stayed together until the finish where Wild made her effort in the last 200m.
Wild now holds the overall leader’s jersey with a seven second advantage over Cucinotta and nine seconds over Williams.
The Dutch rider also leads the points classification while Arianna Fidanza (ITA) is the best young rider and will wear the white jersey for the second stage.
