Vos repeats as Holland Ladies Tour champion

Image 1 of 34

Tour’s don’t get much closer than the Holland Ladies Tour, with the event’s general classification winner decided by the placings of the final stage’s final sprint. Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) claimed the stage victory, landing the race win as a result, after the Dutchwoman collected sprint time bonuses throughout the stage to close in on the race’s former leader.

Kirsten Wild (Cervelo Test Team) was the rider under attack from Vos on the final stage of their home Tour. Wild’s squad gave its all throughout the stage and launched her into a sprint against Vos for the stage victory, but the former world champion proved too quick.

In the final wash-up Vos finished three seconds ahead of Wild on general classification. Eleonora Van Dijk (HTC Columbia Women) finished a relatively distant third overall, 52 seconds behind Vos.

“Kirsten lost by three seconds today to Vos who swept the sprint bonus’ as well as the day’s stage,” said Cervelo’s sport director Jean Paul Van Poppel. “There was a breakaway of 12 riders that included Emilie Aubry. They had a maximum one minute gap but were finally brought back with 30 km to go by Nederland Bloeit. The team worked really well today and throughout the race. Kirsten did win the points classification, we won the team classification, two stages and finished with three riders in the top 10. So not a bad race, but unfortunately we missed the win.”