Boels Ladies Tour: Koch wins stage 4

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Franziska Koch (Sunweb) won stage 4 at the Boels Ladies Tour after proving fastest of a three-rider sprint that raced to the finish line in Nijmegen. Koch won the stage ahead of her breakaway companions Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) and Riejanne Markus (CCC-Liv).

Majerus, who started the stage in 10th overall at 23 seconds down, moved into the overall lead thanks to the nearly 30-second gap between the breakaway and the main peloton.

She now leads the overall classification by 30 seconds ahead of Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM) and an additional two seconds to Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg).

How it unfolded

The fourth stage of the Boels Ladies Tour offered the peloton an undulating 135.6km course between Arnhem and Nijmegen.Canyon-SRAM’s Lisa Klein started the stage in the overall lead after her stage 3 victory, but it was a slim account at only two seconds to Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and six seconds to Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans).

There were, in fact, only 23 seconds that separated the top-10 in the overall classification, and so any chance at a breakaway could significantly alter the standings.

Also, the intermediate sprint for points and time bonuses - 3, 2, and 1 second - along with the time bonuses on offer at the finish line were closely eyed by the riders within reach of the overall title.

Several breakaway attempts proved unfruitful, and the peloton raced through the first 50km of the stage together. The only separations were due to a crash at the 86km mark where five riders hit the ground, and some forced to abandon.

The aggressive attacks coming from the peloton weren’t enough to allow a breakaway in the field. The crosswinds, however, forced a split mid-stage and a group of some 20 riders detached from the main field.

The gap between the two groups pushed out to 30 seconds, and the front group included many of the top-10 in the overall classification. Trek-Segafredo and WNT-Rotor missed the move, and so the two teams sent riders to the front of the second group and managed to bring the gap down to 10 seconds.

Their efforts were too little too late, however, as four riders launched themselves from the lead group in what turned out to be the winning breakaway of the day.

Franziska Koch (Team Sunweb), Riejanne Markus (CCC-Liv) and Sara Penton (Virtu) were the instigators, and formed what started out as a three-rider breakaway. They were later joined by Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans), who at only 23 seconds down in the overall classification, tactfully saw the opportunity to move further ahead.

Their lead grew to two minutes until Canyon-SRAM, working for Lisa Klein, and Mitchelton-Scott, working for Annemiek van Vleuten, initiated a chase from the main field. 

They slashed the gap in half before the final 10km and then down to 40 seconds with five to go, but they weren't strong enough to close the gap altogether.

Penton was distanced by her breakaway companions as they entered the final kilometres of the stage. The Virtu rider was forced to watch as the three others carried on while she returned to the main field.

Markus attacked first, but she was caught in the final stretch to the finish line and settled for third. The stronger pair of Koch and Majerus sprinted for the stage victory.

Koch was the fastest of the two and took the stage honours, but it was a win-win for both riders as Majerus moved into the overall lead ahead of the final stage 5 on Sunday.