Majerus wins 2019 Boels Ladies Tour

Image 1 of 12

Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) won the overall title at the Boels Ladies Tour upon the conclusion of the final stage 5 in Arnhem. Chiara Consonni (Valcar-Cylance) won the stage sprint ahead of Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Lucinda Brand (Sunweb).

Majerus finished among the reduced field to secure her title by 26 seconds ahead Wiebes and 30 seconds ahead of Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM).

How it unfolded

The fifth and final stage of the Boels Ladies Tour offered the peloton a reverse of the previous day’s start and finishing cities, with the 154.8km race starting in Nijmegen and ending in Arnhem. The stage included two sprints near the end of the race, the first at the 121.6km mark, which also offered time bonuses, and the second at 128.3km.

Majerus started the day in the overall lead by 30 seconds ahead of Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM) and an additional two seconds ahead of Wiebes. With a powerful Boels Dolmans team at her service, it seemed unlikely that any rival could threaten Majerus' chances of securing the overall title.

Still, there were efforts made, and breakaway attempts explored as riders took one final opportunity for the stage victory. Roxane Knetemann was the first to make her move, but it was short-live. The counter-attack, by her Parkhotel Valkenburg teammate Femke Markus, was also futile.

Malgorzata Jasinska (Movistar) was the first substantially clear the field with a 35-second gap that flourished to over a minute at the mid-point of the race. She was 10 minutes down in the overall classification, and so posed no threat to Majerus’ lead. Boels Dolmans seemed content to let her go, and the gap opened up to more than three minutes.

As the race approached the first intermediate sprint, for time bonuses of 3, 2, and 1 second, located at the top of a small climb, Jasinska’s hefty lead began to shrink to two minutes. She crossed the line first but looked over her shoulder to see two chasers Lucinda Brand (Sunweb) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott).

Brand and Van Vleuten, caught and passed Jasinksa, and carried on with a slight lead over a reduced main field inside the last 25km. Brand, who picked up the full points at the next intermediate sprint, made one final attack that left Van Vleuten alone and then reabsorbed into the field.

Brand used her time trial strengths to maintain a small lead that stretched from 10 to 20 seconds, but the field of 30 riders behind was intent on reeling her in and setting up for a sprint.

The field, led by Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans), caught Brand inside seven kilometres, but it only served as a platform for more attacks.

Barbara Guarischi (Virtu) and Floortje Mackaij (Sunweb) were the first to go, followed by Trek-Segafredo teammates Elisa Longo Borghini and Lizzie Deignan, and then Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv).

Van der Breggen led the small field, protecting her teammate Majerus’ overall lead through the final kilometres of the stage. The current world champion proved strong enough on her own to keep all breakaway attempts in check. She sat up only when it was time to let the teams with sprinters among the bunch take their shot at a stage victory.

Sunweb led the field into the sprint but it was Valcar's Consonni who proved fastest, securing the Women's WorldTour stage win. Wiebes crossed the line in second place and Brand, even despite her late-race breakaway attempt, finished third.