Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) took centre stage in the sprint on stage 3 of the Simac Ladies Tour - but unlike the previous two days, Wiebes chose to ride in support of her teammate Charlotte Kool.
Launching her own sprint early, Wiebes pulled Kool away from the peloton. Kool then came past the yellow jersey on the last 200 metres, and DSM could celebrate a 1-2 finish in Gennep. It was Kool's first victory on the Women's WorldTour.
Coming from behind Georgia Baker (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) just beat Clara Copponi (FDJ SUEZ Futuroscope) to third place.
“The team did a fantastic job today, they controlled the race and were so strong. It is very nice that I could finish it off for everyone this time,” said Kool.
Wiebes continues to lead the general classification, with Kool now second at 17 seconds and Karlijn Swinkels (Team Jumbo-Visma) third at 21 seconds.
“Our plan was to switch positions just before the last turn, and that worked out. Then I did the lead-out, and I saw that I could get in Charlotte’s wheel, so it was a nice 1-2,” said Wiebes.
How it unfolded
Stage 3 around Gennep was raced on a circuit, beginning with two long laps with a QOM sprint on the Wolfsberg followed by a shorter 16.3-kilometre lap at the end for a total distance of 139.1km.
The race stayed together for a long time as no breakaway attempts were successful, and Wiebes won the first QOM sprint ahead of Maëlle Grossetête (FDJ SUEZ Futuroscope) and polka-dot jersey Swinkels.
Sophie Wright (UAE Team ADQ), Justine Ghekiere (Plantur-Pura), Eline van Rooijen (AG Insurance-NXTG), and Daniek Hengeveld (GT Krush Tunap Pro Cycling) got away late on the first long laps and briefly held a one-minute advantage, but their break did not last long as they were caught with 6km to go.
Next to attack was Hengeveld’s teammate Marissa Baks who led the peloton by 30 seconds but was reeled in again 40km from the line.
Grossetête won the second QOM sprint ahead of Wiebes and Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-NXTG), putting her and Wiebes on eight QOM points each. Wiebes technically leads the QOM ranking due to her better GC position, but Grossetête will wear the polka-dot jersey on stage 4.
Alison Jackson (Liv Racing Xstra) attacked after the Wolfsberg and was joined by Wright, but they were quickly closed down. The same happened to a counterattack by Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing Xstra) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Team SD Worx).
With one lap to go, Swinkels picked up three bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint ahead of Elena Cecchini (Team SD Worx) and Team DSM’s Pfeiffer Georgi.
13km from the line, a group of eight riders managed to get away from the peloton, but DSM closed the gap after a short chase.
There were no more attacks from then on, and DSM pulled off their 1-2 in the sprint.
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