Speaking on Cycling Central’s Daily Live Show dedicated to The Women’s Tour, Bates felt riders like Sarah Roy should switch their focus during the 117.8-kilometre course from East Beach, Shoeburyness to Southend-on-Sea.
“I think a couple of things will come into play,” Bates explained.
“Firstly, the weather because it is known to be very windy at that part of the coast and they are also expecting an absolute deluge in the next three days.
“But probably the most notable thing on these stages is that there’s going to be quite a difference in tactics from what we saw in Stage 1 and Stage 2.
“Sarah Roy is now quite a distance behind Nina Kessler – she’s yet to actually beat her in an intermediate sprint and I think it would be unwise for her to burn so many matches going for those intermediate sprints when it’s unlikely she’ll get the jersey and isn’t in a position in the GC anymore for those bonus points to mean anything.
“So that kind of opens BikeExchange up to focus on the end of the stage and, therefore, to also focus on keeping the bunch together.
“That also applies to Trek (Segafredo), who are looking for Chloe Hosking to potentially get a good result, and they don’t have anybody necessarily that they will be able to support to go for GC.
“So there will be a few opposing tactics going on there that will really play into the hands of SD Worx because, if the sprinters are trying to keep it together, that minute and four seconds is almost unassailable if they do come down to the bunch sprint.
“There are no time bonuses; even if someone got all the time bonuses left in the race, they (still) can’t bridge that gap.”
Gracie Elvin agreed with Bates’ assessment, before backing Roy to push for a stage result instead of the more intermediate ones.
“Teams need to capitalise on these positions for their own stage results,” Elvin added.
Watch extended highlights from all six stages of the Women's Tour available each morning via SBS On Demand from October 5-10.
