Ladies Tour of Norway: Vos wins opening stage in Rakkestad-Mysen

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Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) won stage 1 of the Ladies Tour of Norway in a sprint as solo attacker Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels Dolmans) was caught only 100 metres from the finish line. Vos narrowly beat Emilia Fahlin (Wiggle High5) on the line, Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) finished third. Vos is the race leader, going into Saturday's stage 2 with a nine-second lead on Rivera.

Covering 127.7 kilometres between Rakkestad and Mysen, the stage included two intermediate sprints and one classified climb, but the course was rolling the whole day with many short climbs. The dam across the Solbergfoss and the strong wind also played an important role. In Mysen, a technical 6.3 kilometre finishing circuit with a 250-metre uphill finishing straight was raced twice.

Helped by a tailwind, the peloton covered 38km in the first hour despite the rolling terrain. WaowDeals kept things together to the first intermediate sprint that was won by Vos ahead of Rivera and Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans). The peloton briefly split on the first passage of the narrow Solbergfoss dam and the following ascent, but eventually came back together.

With 55km to go, a number of riders attacked through the feed zone, starting a flurry of attacks that led to Anna Plichta (Boels Dolmans), Katrine Aalerud (Team Virtu Cycling), and Sofia Bertizzolo (Astana Women's Team) getting a 20-second gap for a short while. When this trio had been reeled in, Team Sunweb and WaowDeals led the peloton into the only classified climb of the day, cresting 40.8 km from the finish.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) took maximum points at the top and will wear the polka-dot mountain jersey on stage 2. The peloton was strung out after the climb, and Lucinda Brand forced a selection by keeping up the pace down to the Solbergfoss, across the dam and into the climb on the other side. Eventually, a group of 33 riders formed that gradually increased its advantage on the peloton.

Vos won the second intermediate sprint ahead of Majerus and Rivera amid countless attacks in the leading group, Team Sunweb being particularly active. An attack by Niewiadoma was followed by many high-profile riders and led to a high-speed chase in the crosswinds before Team Sunweb could close the gap again with 24 km to go.

Karol-Ann Canuel went on a solo shortly afterwards and was let go by the others. She established a decent advantage as there was no cohesion in the group behind. Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb) also took off on her own, and passing the finish line for the first time with 12.6 km left to race, Canuel was 30 seconds ahead of Mackaij and 1:10 minutes ahead of the chasing group.

Annemiek van Vleuten and Amanda Spratt (both Mitchelton-Scott) took up the chase for their team mate Gracie Elvin. Without help from the other riders, they eventually caught Mackaij. Canuel was still 40 seconds ahead with one lap to go, but now Team Sunweb started helping Mitchelton-Scott with Ruth Winder.

Canuel was in sight of the group on the long straights on the last four kilometres, and there were attacks by a.o. Brand, Malgorzata Jasinska (Movistar Team), and Margarita Victoria Garcia that were all brought back immediately. Taking a lead of nine seconds into the final kilometre, Canuel was oversprinted with the finish line in sight as Vos opened her sprint early and passed the Canadian with 100 metres to go. Emilia Fahlin came strong on the last metres, but Vos just held on to win. Rivera sprinted to third place from far back, just pipping Elvin on the line.

With the stage win and time bonuses from the intermediate sprints, Vos now holds a general classification lead of nine seconds on Rivera who will wear the green points jersey on stage 2 in Vos' place. Chiara Consonni (Valcar PBM) takes the white jersey as the best U23 rider, Susanne Andersen (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) is the best-placed Norwegian.

The Ladies Tour of Norway continues on Saturday with stage 2, 127.6 kilometres from Fredrikstad to Sarpsborg.

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