Simac Ladies Tour: Marianne Vos wins prologue

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Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma) won the prologue and the first leader’s jersey of the 2021 Simac Ladies Tour in her first race since the Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Vos won the 2.4km prologue in Ede by five seconds ahead of her compatriot Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) in third a further one second back.

"It is unbelievable that it worked out, because there were a lot of fast riders at the start. I already explored the course last Friday, but during the race it always feels different. It is important that you know the course almost by heart, that you almost know it backwards, so to speak," Vos said following the stage.

"The team has also been really busy with the right technique. It comes down to the details when the prologue is so short. We wanted to go for a stage win, so it is superb that we succeeded."

Vos covered the 2.4km course in 03:01 averaging 47.7 kph to beat time trial specialist van Dijk. Vos posted her time relatively early on in the order of the day but no other rider came close to taking her place in the hot seat. 

Olympic Games time trial silver medallist and Swiss national time trial champion Marlen Reusser, looked strong early on, however the Ale BTC Ljubljana rider only managed 18th place, 11 seconds behind Vos. 

Vos will go into tomorrow’s 134.4km first road stage, which is expected to come down to a bunch sprint, wearing the leader’s jersey.

How it unfolded

Catalina Soto of NXTG Racing was first off the ramp for the short introduction to the 12th round of the Women’s WorldTour and the 23rd edition of the Simac Ladies Tour (previously, Boels Ladies Tour). 

The six-day race started with a short, flat, but technical prologue around Ede, which looked to favour sprinter and puncheur-style riders. 

Amongst the favourites for tomorrow’s sprint stage, Lorena Wiebes finished in fifth place seven seconds down, Elisa Balsamo of Valcar Travel & Service finished in seventh place, eight seconds down. 

Danish ITT champion and fast-finisher Emma Norsgaard of Movistar has eleven seconds to make up while sprinter Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo) currently sits in 42nd place at 16 seconds down with Canyon-SRAM’s Alice Barnes one second behind her. 

The 21-year-old SD Worx sprinter Lonneke Uneken, who last month won the final stage if the 2.1 Baloise Ladies Tour, came fourth, trailing Vos by six seconds. 

It was not only those with a fast finish who placed in the top-10, however, 2019 overall winner Christine Majerus came sixth at seven seconds behind Vos while FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine leader Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig found herself on the podium in third place and five seconds back. 

Tomorrow marks the first road stage of the race with a 134.4km course from Zwolle to Hardenberg that is expected to come down to a bunch sprint. 

The sprint teams missed out on the first two stages at the recent Ladies Tour of Norway, which were won by breakaways, so they will be looking to keep it together for a bunch kick at this race.