Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal) animated the stage with a solo attack that was only reeled in on the penultimate kilometre after SD Worx-Protime had done most of the chase work.
On the finishing straight, Lotte Kopecky led out Wiebes who reacted to Balsamo's launch, and the two sprinters were neck-to-neck on the final metres, with Wiebes just edging out Balsamo for the win.
Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-Sram) lost all her teammates but continues to lead the overall classification, seven seconds ahead of Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease A Bike).
How it unfolded
Covering 154.8km from Coevorden to Assen, the only real difficulties on a very flat stage were the VAMberg climb up the famous landfill after 38km and the cobblestone sector of the Steenhopenweg after 102km. The wind blew from the south but wasn’t strong enough to force any echelons.
For most of the race, the peloton stayed together, and Jeanne Korevaar (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) won the QOM sprint atop the VAMberg ahead of Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) and Franzi Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).
There are no QOM points on offer in the next three stages, so Korevaar will wear the polka-dot jersey for at least three days before having to defend it on the final stage with no fewer than seven QOM sprints.
The cobbles of the Steenhopenweg did not split the peloton, either, but a few kilometres later, with 48.7km to go, Pluimers made her move. The 22-year-old Dutchwoman gradually built an advantage that maxed out at 2:23 minutes 23km from the finish as the peloton held off a bit, not fully committing to the chase yet.
Once past the 20km mark, though, SD Worx-Protime put their domestiques to work and quickly reduced the gap to under a minute, making the catch seem inevitable. However, Pluimers fought on and still was 27 seconds ahead with less than 5km to go.
In the end, she was only caught on the penultimate kilometre, and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) tried to attack out of a corner just afterwards. But the Italian champion did not get away, and on the final kilometre, World champion Kopecky led out European champion Wiebes for the sprint.
On the right side of the road, Balsamo jumped from Wiebes’ rear wheel with about 150 metres to go, just ahead of a speed bump in the finishing straight, and Wiebes launched her own sprint down the left side. Both threw their bikes on the line, and Wiebes was narrowly ahead. Kool came from behind and passed Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the line to take third place.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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