Bloeizone Fryslan Tour: Lonneke Uneken wins stage 2

Lonneke Uneken (SD Worx) won the second stage at the Bloeizone Fryslan Tour winning the bunch sprint in Bakkeveen. The 22-year-old Dutch sprinter won the dash to the line ahead of Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo) and Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM).

“It was pretty chaotic in the last corners but eventually I came just in time so it was perfect. [My team] did a really good job and I think we were in the front the whole day, and they did a perfect lead-out, so I’m really happy with that,” Uneken said.

Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) finished safely in the bunch and maintained her lead in the overall classification ahead of the finale stage 3, a 137km race in Drachten on Saturday.

Stage 2 offered the peloton a flat 135km between Eastermar and Bakkeveen on Friday, however, strong crosswinds threatened to cause spits in the peloton. Although there were several attacks in the early part of the race, the field remained largely intact. The field also split into two groups mid-race but was back together in the final kilometres.

A late-race attack from Anastasiya Kolesava (Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime) saw her build a small lead on the main peloton with 16km to go, however, she was caught inside 14km to the line as teams Canyon-SRAM, Le Col-Wahoo and Jumbo-Visma moved to the front to set the tone for a bunch sprint.

The teams with top sprinters put pressure on the front of the field through the 10km to go mark, causing a long line of riders, pushed the right side of the road due to strong crosswinds. Gaps opened up through the field as some riders struggled to hold wheels in the wind and fell off the back.

Jumbo-Visma, Canyon-SRAM, Liv Racing and Trek-Segafredo were the dominant teams heading into the final kilometres, as Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) also took to the front of the race, looking around for her teammates and sprinter Uneken.

Canyon-SRAM put four rides on the front under 2km to go for their sprinter Barnes. Trek-Segafredo’s race leader Van Dijk moved forward to battle for positions to help keep the pace high for Hosking. Le Col-Wahoo led the field through the final corner and one rider opened a small gap, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the bunch sprint with Uneken taking the stage win.