Boels Ladies Tour: Blaak wins stage 4

World champion Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) concluded her year in the rainbow jersey in style with victory on stage 4 of the Boels Ladies Tour through the hills of southern Limburg.

Having been part of a break of four from kilometre-five, Blaak attacked on the last climb, 10km from the finish, and rode to a solo victory.

Giorgia Bronzini (Cylance) led home the peloton 46 seconds later, with Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) continuing to lead the general classification with only an 18.6 kilometre time trial to come.

Starting and finishing in Sittard-Geleen, the 154.8km stage essentially consisted of three laps of a long circuit through hilly southern Limburg, followed by six kilometres back to the purpose-built Tom Dumoulin BikePark. There were seven hills on the circuit, two of which - the Snijdersberg and Adsteeg - offered mountain points, making for a total of 21 climbs and six mountain sprints.

The first attacker of the day was 19-year-old sprinter Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg), but she was quickly reeled in. Next to make a move were Pernille Mathiesen (Team Sunweb), Roxane Knetemann (Alé Cipollini), Eugénie Duval (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), and Chantal Blaak, and this quartet gradually built their advantage over the peloton to a maximum of 3:45 minutes with 100km to go.

Duval won five of the day's six mountain sprints, securing herself the mountain jersey provided she finishes Sunday's time trial. The break went onto the third and final loop with a two-minute advantage on the peloton. Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans), Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb), Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini), Silvia Pollicini (Valcar PBM), and Wiebes formed a chase group that closed in on the break. They never got closer than 40 seconds, though, and were caught on the last ascent of the Snijdersberg when orange jersey Annemiek van Vleuten raised the pace in the peloton.

Amalie Dideriksen (Boels Dolmans) attacked the final time up the Adsteeg, followed by Janneke Ensing (Alé Cipollini) and Charlotte Becker (Hitec Products-Birk Sport). Together, this trio bridged the 45-second gap to the break, and Dideriksen immediately took to the front to set a hard pace up the final ascent, the narrow Bergstraat 11km from the line. Blaak accelerated over the top and quickly opened up a sizable gap while Dideriksen disrupted the chase behind.

Blaak had a one-minute advantage with four kilometres to go when the other escapees were gobbled up by the peloton, and the world champion rode a steady pace on the run-in to the finish and up the artificial 100 metre rise to the finish line to take a solo win. 46 seconds later, Giorgia Bronzini won the uphill sprint in the peloton against Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) who climbed to second overall, 18 seconds behind van Vleuten.

The Boels Ladies Tour finishes on Sunday with an 18.6 kilometre individual time trial. As the race leader and world time trial champion, Van Vleuten is the big favourite to win both the stage and the general classification.

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