Marianne Vos repeats on Tour of Scandinavia stage 2

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Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) won her second straight stage in the Tour of Scandinavia, out-sprinting Emilia Fahlin (FDJ-SUEZ Futuroscope) and Barbara Guarischi (Movistar) in Strömstad.

There was no real breakaway on a fast stage along the Swedish west coast, and the race came down to the expected bunch sprint. Like Dideriksen on the Danish stage on Tuesday, Fahlin was the first to open her sprint, 250 metres from the line. Vos went into her slipstream and into the wind on the last 70 metres and came past for the stage win. Barbara Guarischi (Movistar Team) took third place.

Vos now leads the race overall with a 14-second advantage over Fahlin and stage 1 runner-up Megan Jastrab (Team DSM).

“It was a very difficult sprint. There was a lot of speed coming into the town, and then it was quite technical with the corners. Trek did a very good move, they escaped on the first corner with one kilometre to go, then they sent it through the next corner and had quite a gap. 

"I hesitated a little because I knew it was going to be difficult if I would close the gap, but then I thought ‘well, I need to go and then gamble a little bit’. Emilia came past with a lot of speed, I tried to get there, and it was really close,” Vos described her sprint.

There had been hopes for echelon action on the stage, but there was never an opportunity to put the race in the gutter.

“There was a lot of wind, but a lot of twisting and turning as well, towns and bushes and trees, so not many long stretches that could make it for a real crosswind, said Vos after her tenth stage victory in the Ladies Tour of Norway or Tour of Scandinavia.

“I really like the racing, it’s nice to be here and try to do well. Probably it’s just a good atmosphere for me,” she finished.

How it unfolded

Starting in Mollösund on the island of Orust, the peloton went mainly north for 153.8 kilometres to the finish in Strömstad. With prevailing southwesterly winds, teams were wary of crosswinds; this may have played a role in the decision to chase down every attack so that no breakaway could establish itself.

Green jersey Alison Jackson (Liv Racing Xstra) finished first and second in the two intermediate sprints to defend her lead. The Canadian went down with 2.5 km to go due to a touch of wheels but was unhurt.

Vos and her Jumbo-Visma team worked hard for Amber Kraak, who scored maximum points on the two mountain sprints, and further extended her lead in the QOM classification.

There were several breakaway attempts after the second mountain sprint 44.9 km from the finish, but none of them lasted longer than a few kilometres, and things eventually settled down again.

Team DSM unsuccessfully tried to force echelons with 11 km to go, and this started the finale where the sprint trains fought for position on a high-speed run-in, pushed along by the tailwind. 

Trek-Segafredo’s Lucinda Brand, with Amalie Dideriksen on her wheel, went first through a succession of three corners from the flamme rouge to 700 metres to go, opening up a gap that Vos had to close. Fahlin launched on the other side of the road, and Vos had to fight hard to get on her wheel and then past, only passing the Swede on the very last metres. 

Guarischi narrowly beat Jastrab and Alexandra Manly (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) to third place.

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