Mara Roldan (Picnic-PostNL) took her first pro victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Britain Women, soloing to the finish in Saltburn-on-the-Sea after an attack on the hill at Marske Lane with 14km to go.
Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) went after Roldan but never made contact and finished runner-up 12 seconds later. A further six seconds down, Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) led home the next group on the road.
After finishing ninth place among Wollaston's chase group, Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) takes over the green jersey of race leader from stage 1 winner Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).
The American racer now leads Markus by four seconds, while Wollaston is in third overall at 12 seconds.
"Today still hasn't fully sunk in! It was a hard and aggressive race as soon as we hit the circuit, but we rode really well as a team, always together and in position for the key moments," Roldan said after her win.
"After yesterday's disappointing mechanical and losing time on GC, I came into today super motivated, and so did the girls. We were fully committed to the plan. The team set me up perfectly going into the second lap, and I attacked on the steepest part of the climb.
"As soon as I got a gap, I knew I had to commit and give it everything to the line. It was still a long way – 15km – but Callum in the car kept me motivated, and I dug deep all the way to the finish. I'm so thankful to all the girls for their hard work.
"It's such a special feeling to take this win, especially as it's my first in the Women's WorldTour. It gives us so much confidence going forward, not just for the next two days of this race, but for the rest of the season!"
How it unfolded
Starting in Hartlepool, the stage looped around Teesside before ending with almost two laps of a circuit around Saltburn-by-the-Sea that included the Marske Lane climb and the climb up Saltburn Bank, finishing about 400 metres after the top for a total of 114.3km.
Green jersey Le Court went down in a crash only a few minutes into the race, but fortunately, she could get back on her bike and continue the race.
After 5km, Tiffany Keep (DAS-Hutchinson) went on the attack, and when Madeleine Leech (Handsling Alba Development) and Lucy Gadd (Smurfit Westrock) bridged to her, the break of the day was established.
Their advantage maxed out at just over three minutes before the peloton started the chase. At the intermediate sprint in Guisborough, where Keep sprinted for the points, the gap was down to 2:04 minutes.
Spectators cheer on the peloton during stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Keep kept on going after the sprint, and Gadd came back to her while Leech dropped back to the peloton.
Keep left Gadd behind on the way up Marske Lane and was first over the top, but the peloton was only 10 seconds down as Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) just passed Gadd at the QOM sprint.
With 30km to go, Keep's breakaway was over. The peloton was down to about 60 riders, and Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) tried to get away over the rolling hills. A crash in a wet corner took down Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and split the peloton, with Le Court in the second group.
Deignan led into Saltburn Bank with one lap to go until Faulkner took over with Cat Ferguson and Henderson on her wheel.
Now former race leader Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) leads the way up a late climb (Image credit: Getty Images)
Henderson attacked 150 metres from the finish line in a bid for the time bonuses but missed out as Faulkner, Ferguson, and Karlijn Swinkels passed her on the line. Le Court was in a group 53 seconds down, with Wiebes even further behind.
Picnic PostNL took charge and pushed the pace in the lead group with five riders, setting up Roldan's attack on Marske Lane, where the 21-year-old Canadian gained a 20-second gap on the 15 riders that remained together behind her.
Markus jumped away from that group on one of the brief descents in the rolling last 13km and inched towards Roldan on her own, reducing the gap to only nine seconds at one point. But Roldan kept going and held Markus at around 10 seconds up until the flamme rouge, where the climb of Saltburn Bank began.
The Canadian gave it her all, attacking the climb with an open mouth and fervently pushing the pedals while Markus had a steadier pace. At the top of the climb, Roldan was sure of the victory but never slowed down, only celebrating after crossing the finish line.
Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) leads the main chase group home (Image credit: Getty Images)
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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