D'Hoore wins Boels Rentals Ladies Tour opener

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Jolien D'Hoore (Wiggle-Honda) won the opening stage of the Boels Rentals Ladies Tour over Lucy Garner (Liv-Plantur) and Lucinda Brand (Rabobank-Liv) with such seeming ease that not only did she don the first leader's jersey, she put her name up there with the top favourites to win the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia later this month.

The Belgian champion had plenty of time to celebrate after winning the stage by more than a bike length. "I was well positioned at the last corner and then I just did what I always do: go as fast as I can," D'Hoore said to radsport-news.com. "That was enough."

"The final was technical, and I knew I had to come into the last kilometers of the top ten or even five."

The Wiggle-Honda sprinter had three chances to preview the sprint finish on the 13.6km circuit, and took third wheel in the last corner with 500m to go. Alena Amialiusik (Velocio SRAM) tried to get the jump, leading teammate Trixi Worrack, but she ran out of steam on the steep approach to the line. D'Hoore blasted over the top and then handily trounced her competitors.

"I was at the front with 350 meters from the finish, which was a bit early," she said. "But I slowly built up my speed and started going ever faster. Fortunately, it was at the end still enough."

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