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Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) received stage 2 of the Simac Ladies Tour, sprinting to victory in Assen forward of Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal) animated the stage with a solo assault that was solely reeled in on the penultimate kilometre after SD Worx-Protime had accomplished many of the chase work.
On the ending straight, Lotte Kopecky led out Wiebes who reacted to Balsamo’s launch, and the 2 sprinters have been neck-to-neck on the ultimate metres, with Wiebes simply edging out Balsamo for the win.
Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-Sram) misplaced all her teammates however continues to steer the general classification, seven seconds forward of Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease A Bike).
How it unfolded
Covering 154.8km from Coevorden to Assen, the one actual difficulties on a really flat stage have been the VAMberg climb up the well-known landfill after 38km and the cobblestone sector of the Steenhopenweg after 102km. The wind blew from the south however wasn’t sturdy sufficient to power any echelons.
For many of the race, the peloton stayed collectively, and Jeanne Korevaar (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) received the QOM dash atop the VAMberg forward of Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) and Franzi Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
There aren’t any QOM factors on supply within the subsequent three phases, so Korevaar will put on the polka-dot jersey for at the very least three days earlier than having to defend it on the ultimate stage with no fewer than seven QOM sprints.
The cobbles of the Steenhopenweg didn’t cut up the peloton, both, however just a few kilometres later, with 48.7km to go, Pluimers made her transfer. The 22-year-old Dutchwoman step by step constructed a bonus that maxed out at 2:23 minutes 23km from the end because the peloton held off a bit, not absolutely committing to the chase but.
Once previous the 20km mark, although, SD Worx-Protime put their domestiques to work and rapidly diminished the hole to underneath a minute, making the catch appear inevitable. However, Pluimers fought on and nonetheless was 27 seconds forward with lower than 5km to go.
In the top, she was solely caught on the penultimate kilometre, and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) tried to assault out of a nook simply afterwards. But the Italian champion didn’t get away, and on the ultimate kilometre, World champion Kopecky led out European champion Wiebes for the dash.
On the best facet of the street, Balsamo jumped from Wiebes’ rear wheel with about 150 metres to go, simply forward of a velocity bump within the ending straight, and Wiebes launched her personal dash down the left facet. Both threw their bikes on the road, and Wiebes was narrowly forward. Kool got here from behind and handed Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the road to take third place.
Results
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