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Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) gained stage 2 of the Simac Women Tour, sprinting to victory in Assen forward of Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal) animated the stage with a solo assault that was solely reeled in on the penultimate kilometre after SD Worx-Protime had achieved a lot 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 guide the general classification, seven seconds forward of Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease A Bike).
The way it unfolded
Protecting 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 drive any echelons.
For a lot of the race, the peloton stayed collectively, and Jeanne Korevaar (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) gained the QOM dash atop the VAMberg forward of Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Group ADQ) and Franzi Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
There are not any QOM factors on supply within the subsequent three phases, so Korevaar will put on the polka-dot jersey for at the 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 break up the peloton, both, however a number of kilometres later, with 48.7km to go, Pluimers made her transfer. The 22-year-old Dutchwoman progressively constructed a bonus that maxed out at 2:23 minutes 23km from the end because the peloton held off a bit, not totally committing to the chase but.
As soon as previous the 20km mark, although, SD Worx-Protime put their domestiques to work and rapidly lowered the hole to beneath a minute, making the catch appear inevitable. Nevertheless, Pluimers fought on and nonetheless was 27 seconds forward with lower than 5km to go.
In the long run, she was solely caught on the penultimate kilometre, and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) tried to assault out of a nook simply afterwards. However 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 correct aspect of the highway, Balsamo jumped from Wiebes’ rear wheel with about 150 metres to go, simply forward of a pace bump within the ending straight, and Wiebes launched her personal dash down the left aspect. Each 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.
Outcomes
Outcomes powered by FirstCycling
