Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) won stage 4 of the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, claiming victory from a reduced group sprint in Mühlhausen. The Dutchwoman came home ahead of Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx – Protime).
Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) moved into the yellow jersey after she picked up nine seconds on overnight leader Margot Vanpachtenbeke (VolkerWessels) when the group splintered on the final kick to the line.
In the overall standings, Edwards is now five seconds clear of Vanpachtenbeke ahead of Saturday’s pivotal 31km time trial.
The rugged stage was animated by a fine solo attack from Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), who forged clear at the foot of the penultimate climb with 29km remaining. The Pole extended her advantage over the top and she still had a lead of 40 seconds or so on the chasers when she crested the top of the final classified ascent with 18km to go.
By then, a reduced group of 15 or so riders were giving chase, with Brand’s teammate Brodie Chapman performing a key role in bringing some cohesion to the pursuit.
Niewiadoma was perhaps ultimately doomed by the crosswind sections in the closing 10km, but she stuck gamely to her task deep into the finale before she was finally reeled in on an unclassified rise with a little under 5km to go.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) attempted to break clear just as Niewiadoma was caught, and that attack prefigured a breathless run-in, where the front group splintered and reformed several times.
Swinkels went from distance in the gently climbing rise to the line, but Brand always appeared in control of the situation, having been shepherded through the finale by Chapman and Shirin van Anrooij. Brand duly came past her compatriot Swinkels in the final 50m to claim stage victory.
“In the first lap, I didn’t feel the best and there was a chance the break would stay away, but it started all over again when they were brought back and then Kasia went away,” Brand said. “When she was brought back, we knew it would be a sprint and the plan was to go 100% for me.”
Brand won this race overall in 2021, but she downplayed her prospects here given that Edwards and Vanpachtenbeke are still more than two minutes clear of the rest after their long-range escape on the opening day in Jena.
“It was really nice to win the GC a couple of years ago and coming here it was one of the goals, but now we have two leaders with more than two minutes,” Brand said. “It’s a very long time trial tomorrow so it’s very optimistic to think we can close the gap.”
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