Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won her second stage win in as many days at the Baloise Ladies Tour, extending her lead in the overall classification.
Wearing the GC leader's jersey, Wiebes launched her sprint from 300 metres to go and never looked back, winning the slightly uphill sprint ahead of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL teammates Charlotte Kool and Rachele Barbieri in Knokke-Heist.
Wiebes extended her lead in the overall classification ahead of three Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders; 12 seconds ahead of Kool, 13 seconds ahead of Pfeiffer Georgi, and 16 seconds ahead of Barbieri, as the race heads into stage 2's 126km race in Zulte on Friday.
How it unfolded
The first road race stage of the Baloise Ladies Tour was a 113.8km race from Breskens to Knokke-Heist. The pan-flat course opened with a 48km race toward the finishing circuits, where the peloton completed two and a half loops before an expected bunch sprint in Knokke-Heist.
The field remained intact as they entered the ciruit where they raced about half a lap before passing through the finish line with two full laps remaining.
Sara Fiorin (UAE Development Team) launched a solo attack and pushed her lead out to 30 seconds with 35km to go, while SD Worx-Protime led the peloton for their overall race leader, Wiebes.
Fiorin looked over her shoulder five kilometres later to see the peloton charging toward her from behind, and she was caught inside 30km from the line.
SD Worx-Protime and Fenix-Deceuninck, with runner-up in GC Fien Van Eynde, marshalled their respective teams at the front of the field, setting a fast pace into the closing kilometres of the race.
Pfeiffer Georgi (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), who started the day in fourth overall with just five seconds behind Wiebes, sprinted for the time bonuses available as the field passed through the finish line for the last lap.
A crash in the peloton saw Silje Bader (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) go down, but she was up and on her bike quickly and chasing to get back into the race.
Lotto Dstny set off a flurry of attacks, but SD Worx-Protime left nothing to chance, dragging back every rider who tried to gain time on the field.
Lotto Dstny's Audrey De Keersmaeker finally broke the elastic band with a searing attack with 22km out, followed by Julie Sap (Fenix-Deceuninck Development) and Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset (Team Coop-Repsol) gaining 20 seconds.
After spending roughly 15km off the front, De Keersmaeker and Sap were reabsorbed into the field. Ytterhus Haugset desperately tried to stay out front, but she, too, was caught with five kilometres to go.
There were two crashes in the peloton; the first with 7.2km out, took down about ten riders, and a second crash saw several riders go down inside three kilometres out.
Lotto Dstny and EF Education-Cannondale were the first teams to start their lead-outs into the final kilometre, with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL moving to the front through the last corner and into the run-in to the finish line.
Despite their efforts, none could contest the sprint against Wiebes as she secured her second stage win.
Results
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