Pieters claims rainy Aviva Women's Tour stage win in Stratford-upon-Avon

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Amy Pieters (Wiggle High5) edged out defending champion Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) in a photo finish on rain-soaked stage 2 of the Aviva Women’s Tour. It may have been close but there was little doubt in the mind of Pieters as her teammates screamed their congratulations down the radio while they rode to the team bus.

Marianne Vos (Rabo Liv) came close for yet another day but missed out on the stage win, finishing third on the line. There was some consolation for the Dutchwoman with the bonus points moving her up into first place in the overall classification and the yellow jersey but just three seconds ahead of Brennauer.

The rain hammered down for much of the day as the riders wound their way from Atherstone to Stratford-upon-Avon on what was the longest stage of this year’s race, 140km. The tough day out was evident as the mud and dirt spattered riders crossed the finish line in dribs and drabs.

Christine Majerus started the day in yellow after sprinted to her second career victory at the Women’s Tour on stage 1. Majerus’ Boels Dolmans team kept a tight leash on the peloton in the tricky conditions and the pack was still together some 30 kilometres into the day.

One rider who was keen to try and make spice things up was Ale Cipollini’s Emilia Fahlin. The former Swedish national champion made repeated attacks of the front. Unfortunately for Fahlin, the peloton weren’t happy to let someone with her pedigree go clear and each time she was brought back.

Vos began the day just a single second down on GC and she signalled her intent on claiming the yellow jersey for herself early on by contesting the intermediate sprints. With as many as three seconds available at each of the two sprints and seconds available on the line, there was everything to play for.

Majerus got the better of Vos in the first sprint in Kenliworth after 37 kilometres, while Lotta Lepisto (Cervelo-Bigla) mopped up the full complement of points and seconds. Vos wasn’t to be beaten for a second time and she came out on top in the second intermediate sprint of the day in Tysoe, closing the gap back to that single second.

The weather started taking its toll and it looked like the peloton might be ready to give a breakaway a shot when double junior world champion Amalie Dideriksen (Boels Dolmans) and Polish national champion Malgorzata Jasinska (Ale Cipollini) got off the front with 30 kilometres to go. They built up a lead of almost a minute before the group sprang into action and started chasing them back.

The speed of the chase behind the pair forced a split in the bunch and a group of 25 riders went clear before catching the two escapees. Most of the big names made it into the front group but there were some that missed the split including last year’s runner-up Jolien D’hoore and Emma Pooley. That would be the end of their stage chances and probably any hopes of the overall classification as they rolled in almost five minutes down.

Some late attacks, including one from Niki Harris (Boels Dolmans) with two kilometres remaining, threatened to split the front group again. It came back together again, however, just in time for the sprint finish. Brennauer, Pieters and Vos surged clear of the group in the final metres with Pieters taking it by half a wheel.

Stage 3 will be the most challenging stage yet with around 2,000 metres of climbing packed into 109 kilometres of racing between Ashbourne and Chesterfield.

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