Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx–Protime) sealed her 18th victory of the season – the 111th of her career – on stage 1 of the Simac Ladies Tour in Leuven on Tuesday.
Wiebes powered to a comfortable victory ahead of Elisa Balsamo and Clara Copponi of Lidl-Trek, once again proving herself to be unbeatable in a fast finish, following a short, explosive stage which saw Lidl-Trek the most active team in trying to find a way to beat the indomitable European champion.
Multiple teams went on the offensive in an attacking opening to the race, with Pfeiffer Georgi (Team Picnic PostNL) and Margaux Vigié (Team Visma–Lease a Bike) coming agonisingly close to snatching a surprise win from a late breakaway, caught with just 200 metres remaining.
With the win, Wiebes took the first leader’s jersey at the race, which she will wear heading into stage 2 in Gennep tomorrow.
Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) was the day's main escapee (Image credit: Getty Images)
The first of six stages in the penultimate Women’s World Tour stage race of 2025, stage 1 was relatively short at 81.3 kilometres, and featured eleven laps of a circuit around the Belgian city of Leuven, the only stage of the race to take place on Belgian soil before the race returns to the Netherlands on Wednesday. With a flat profile, it was expected that the day would end in a bunch sprint.
Team SD Worx-ProTime and Lidl-Trek controlled the race in its early stages, and with no breakaway established within the first 20 kilometres, the American team began to deploy their considerable resources in an attempt to stretch out the race. Riejanne Markus was first to try her luck, using a short gradient to exert some pressure. It worked briefly, causing a split in the bunch which was closed by Lorena Wiebes, and shortly after, a second attack came, with Lucinda Brand the second Lidl-Trek rider to go on the offensive. The attacks continued on several fronts, as the American team worked to try and tire SD Worx, who, with race favourite and former overall winner of the race Wiebes among their ranks, were the team with the onus on them to shut down their repeated efforts.
After multiple attempts, a breakaway was finally established and it was a solo rider, Lidl-Trek’s Lauretta Hanson, who moved clear with 50 kilometres remaining on the stage. The bunch were content to let her go, and she maintained a slender advantage over the peloton for around ten kilometres, before she was brought back by a strung-out bunch led by Pfeiffer Georgi (Team Picnic-PostNL) and Femke Gerritse (Team SD Worx-ProTime).
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Attacks continued to fly, with a number of teams piling the pressure on SD Worx, including Movistar Team and VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team. With 35 kilometres to go, Markus attacked yet again on the steepest pitch of the circuit, but once again, Wiebes herself was instrumental in controlling the attack.
Not to be deterred, Ellen van Dijk was the next to strike for Lidl-Trek, with Lieke Nooijen (Team Visma–Lease a Bike) and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) throwing their lot in and forming a trio with van Dijk, and the pressure once again caused an elongation of the bunch as Lidl-Trek continued to exert their authority on the race – but it didn’t stick.
A period of respite followed as the bunch regrouped, before a long-range attack from Margaux Vigié (Team Visma–Lease a Bike) found success, the Frenchwoman opening a small gap. Georgi bridged across to form a lead duo and the pair enjoyed the most sizeable gap of the day so far as the bunch behind blocked the road with 22 kilometres remaining.
Lorena Wiebes moves into the overall race lead (Image credit: Getty Images)
Vigié and Georgi’s lead opened out to half a minute, and this held into the penultimate lap of the circuit, when Jeanne Korevaar (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Letizia Borghesi (EF Education-Cannondale) both took turns to launch attacks, but it was Wiebes herself who took it upon herself to chase down the attackers, making a clear statement as to her strength, and splitting the bunch in her wake, with her own teammates chasing on behind as part of a select group that included four riders from Lidl-Trek.
Heading into the final lap, the breakaway pair still nursed a slender 19-second advantage as the bunch began to organise themselves ahead of the expected bunch sprint. With the kilometres ticking away, Vigié and Georgi maintained their lead, but the peloton were in control, with teams ready to deploy their sprinters. Nevertheless, it came down to the wire, Georgi urging Vigié on as they passed the flamme rouge, but they were finally closed down with just 200 metres to go.
Lidl-Trek launched their lead-out but Wiebes was perfectly positioned to come around Elisa Balsamo and cruise to victory. Behind, Georgi and Vigié finished 4th and 5th respectively, fighting all the way to the line in a spirited finish behind the fastest of the sprinters.
Katy Madgwick is a freelance writer and broadcaster, covering multiple disciplines across both men's and women's pro cycling. Head of Creators at Domestique Cycling, Katy has written for a broad range of publications, and is a regular contributor to Cyclist Magazine, Cyclingnews, TNT Sports and The Roadbook Cycling Almanack.
On the broadcast side, she is a co-host of the On Yer Bike podcast, occasional contributor to BBC Radio, and features on CADE Media's Pro Show podcast for the first time in 2025.
She is a lover of all things French and a cyclo-cross obsessive, and probably ought to get on her actual bike more often.
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