Boels Ladies Tour: Wild wins stage 2 into Arnhem

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Kirsten Wild (Cylance) took victory by a clear margin on the opening road stage of the Boels Ladies Tour, winning a bunch sprint into Arnhem. Even accounting for her slowing down to celebrate, Wild had more than two bike lengths on her competitors for her fourth win of the season.

Lensworld-Kuota’s Maria Giulia Confalonieri pipped Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) into second place. Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) came home safely in the bunch to retain her lead in the overall classification.

There were blue skies above as the race got underway, but wet roads meant debris and several punctures during the neutralised section. Van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) started the day in the leader’s jersey after beating Ellen van Dijk (Team Sunweb) in the prologue.

It was an extremely fast start to the day with attacks coming off the front right from the gun. An early move from Anouska Koster (WM3 Pro Cycling), Georgia Williams (Orica-Scott) and Natalie van Gogh (Parkhotel Valkenburg-Destil) mopped up the opening QoM points, but they were quickly brought back into the bunch.

Twisting roads and a smattering of cobbles broke up the bunch until Eri Yonamine (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) jumped clear after just over 20 kilometres of racing. The gap to the Japanese champion yo-yoed as Boels Dolmans looked to manage the peloton. Her advantage was as much as 2:40 at one point, after which several riders sought to join forces with her. Winanda Spoor (Lensworld-Kuota) and Ilona Hoeksma (Hitec Products) did eventually make contact with Yonamine after close to 80 kilometres.

Despite the help, the gap to the leaders reduced under a concerted effort from the bunch behind and, with 20 kilometres to go, they had just 55 seconds.

The finishing circuits took their toll and the leading group dwindled and eventually Yonamine found herself alone once again. The FDJ rider pushed on and still held the peloton at 25 seconds with a handful of kilometres remaining, but she too would be brought back by the bunch with three to go.

WM3 Pro Cycling led the bunch into the final kilometre but nobody had the legs to outgun Wild to the line.

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