Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) profitable stage 3 of the Simac Girls Tour wasn’t out of the odd in any respect – it was her seventh stage victory throughout the final 5 editions of the Dutch stage race. The shock was that Wiebes did it sporting an everyday SD Worx-Protime package and never her European Champion’s jersey or the race’s inexperienced factors jersey.
Cyclingnews reached out to Wiebes’ crew in addition to the race organisation on the matter and discovered that the confusion was attributable to a mistake made throughout the stage 2 podium ceremony.
On Wednesday, Wiebes had gained stage 2, placing her and stage 1 winner and GC chief Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) on 25 factors every. Based on the race and UCI laws, the primary tiebreaker in such a case is the variety of stage wins, however each riders had gained one stage.
The race jury then awarded the inexperienced jersey to Wiebes as her stage victory was more moderen – nonetheless, the second tiebreaker is as an alternative the GC inserting.
This was solely found on the morning of stage 3, lengthy after Wiebes had been issued with a inexperienced sprintsuit for the stage and pinned her numbers to it. With Zoe Bäckstedt main each the overall classification and the factors classification, a proxy wearer for the inexperienced jersey needed to be discovered.
Usually, this could be the second-placed rider, on this case Wiebes. But when a rider is a present champion, they’re entitled to put on their champion’s jersey, and the classification jersey passes to the following rider in line.
Since Wiebes is the European Champion and her teammate Lotte Kopecky, third within the factors classification after stage 2, is the World Champion, the inexperienced jersey was handed on to stage 1 runner-up Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) who did certainly race the stage in inexperienced however missed the entrance echelon and misplaced her second place in GC.
This last-minute change, nonetheless, left Wiebes with no sprintsuit to race in. She had introduced a hotter jacket within the design of the European Champion alongside to the beginning, however no white sprintsuit with blue stripes and yellow stars. As a substitute, the sprinter borrowed a sprintsuit from teammate Femke Gerritse to race and, ultimately, win the quick echelon stage in Zeewolde.
Proper after the end, Wiebes placed on her European Champion’s jacket once more for the stage 3 podium ceremony. With two stage victories in a row, Wiebes now leads the factors classification with a ten-point margin to stage 3 runner-up Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), and the European Champion can put on the inexperienced jersey in her personal proper on stage 4.
