Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich) kept her winning streak alive at the Baloise Women's Tour and went four-for-four with a victory on stage 3a Saturday morning for her fourth consecutive win.
Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) finished second and Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) third from a bunch sprint in Knokke-Heist.
The 82km road race was the opening contest of the six-stage event, with a 17.6km individual time trial to follow later on Saturday.
Brand limited the damage by surging ahead of Norsgaard at the line, holding on to second overall, 20 seconds back of Kool, while the Dane remains third overall, 24 back.
Team dsm-firmenich once again controlled the day and brought back an early breakaway of Sofie Van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Ellen Klinge (Carbonbike Giordana by Gen Z) with less than 25 kilometres to go. On the last local lap, a lead group of about 40 riders set the stage for a bunch sprint. With fatigue settling in the peloton, all five riders for Team dsm-firmenich accelerated in a crosswind section to split the front group and set up Kool's sprint in the finale.
“The team today were so impressive, it was crazy. Everyone here is so strong and we did everything close to perfect today; closing the break, then in the echelons and then in the sprint," Kool said. "
It’s amazing that we’re able to do this with such a young team and it’s an honour to be the person finishing it off.”
Kool holds the purple leader's jersey and will be the final starter in the time trial. She also leads the points classification and the ranking of best Dutch rider. Sofie Van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) took three points in the Saturday morning stage and takes over as the best sprinter.
Fien Van Eynde (Fenix-Deceuninck) is recognised as the best Belgian rider and Julia Kopecky (AG Insurance-NXTG U23 Team) remain in green and white as best young rider.
Results
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