Boels Ladies Tour: Dideriksen wins crash-marred stage 2 sprint

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Amalie Dideriksen (Boels Dolmans) won stage 2 of the Boels Ladies Tour, 125 flat kilometres around Gennep. After a break of 13 riders was caught with less than three kilometres to go, the Danish champion was fastest in a crash-marred sprint, beating Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton-Scott) to the line. Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) stays in the overall lead.

The stage was held around Gennep in the northernmost part of the province of Limburg. After a loop of 49.1km, the race crossed the finish line for the first time and embarked on two laps of a 38.1-kilometre circuit. Unlike further south, this stretch between the Maas river and the German border is completely flat, so the wind was the only difficulty of the day, blowing from the northwest for tailwinds on the way out from Gennep and headwind or crosswind on the way back.

A big break of 13 riders formed halfway through the long loop but was caught when the race turned into a headwind a few kilometres later. Helped by the tailwind out from Gennep after the first intermediate sprint, Eri Yonamine (Wiggle High5), Esther van Veen (Parkhotel Valkenburg), and Mieke Kröger (Team Virtu Cycling) got away from the peloton and gained up to 30 seconds. They were reeled in again when the peloton accelerated in the crosswinds, and new attacks soon followed.

Eventually, another breakaway got away with Gracie Elvin (Mitchelton-Scott), Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb), Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans), Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM), Riejanne Markus (WaowDeals), Marta Tagliaferro (Cylance), Lauren Kitchen (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), Barbara Guarischi and Sara Penton (both Team Virtu Cycling), Ilaria Sanguineti (Valcar PBM), Natalie van Gogh (Parkhotel Valkenburg), and Lily Williams (USA National Team), and soon held a one-minute advantage, putting Brand into the virtual race lead. Elvin, Barnes, and van Gogh had been in the earlier break as well, and Barnes was awarded the prize of most combative rider for this effort.

With her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten's orange leader's jersey in danger, Elvin did not take any turns in the break, and the gap was down to 20 seconds with 25km left to race. Although this rose to 30 seconds again, other riders began to skip turns as well, and with eight kilometres to go, Kitchen and van Gogh attacked their break mates. Elvin jumped to the lead duo, soon followed by Brand, and the four held a slim lead of only a few seconds over what now was the chasing group. Sanguineti also jumped across, then the work of Blaak and Williams had brought the chasers back, but the peloton was very close behind. Guarischi went solo around the two-kilometre mark but was soon reeled in by the peloton that now prepared for a mass sprint.

After a lead-out by her teammate Amy Pieters, Amalie Dideriksen launched her sprint with about 100 metres to go and beat Lorena Wiebes and Jolien D'hoore to the finish. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Valcar PBM) finished fourth, Pieters still had enough speed to cross the line in fifth position. Behind Dideriksen, a touch of wheel brought down five riders with some 50 metres to go; all five could cross the finish line themselves, though.

There were no changes in the race classifications. Annemiek van Vleuten placed ninth on the stage and will continue to wear the leader's jersey on stage 3, another flat stage between Stramproy and Weert.

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