Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) avoided a crash in the last kilometer to win stage 5 of the Simac Ladies Tour in Doetinchem, outsprinting Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), who took second, and Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) who was third.
Wiebes’s teammate Lotte Kopecky was one of the riders involved in the crash with 1 kilometer to go, as was Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who did not finish and had to abandon the race.
Franziska Koch (dsm-firmenich PostNL) kept the leader’s jersey and will defend it going into the final stage on Sunday.
Kopecky crashed hard with 1 km to go with Kool, who had to abandon (photo: Simac Ladies Tour)
Rider Reactions
Lorena Wiebes: “I heard the crash, and Lotte said right away on the radio that she was on the ground. That really sucks. It was a really dangerous final with all the traffic islands. I did get out of position a little bit, but then I found my way back. I started my sprint quite early, but it was enough. Lotte should have been sitting on my wheel, and we would both sprint. Now we’ll have to see how she is, and tomorrow is a new day.”
Nienke Veenhoven: “It was a super nice race. We made the course with the team from 85 kilometers before the finish by attacking alternately. The bunch sprint was therefore not well organized, which was to our advantage. I was dropped … by my teammates, which allowed me to sprint to a nice third place.”
Franziska Koch: “The girls did an amazing job keeping me safe throughout the whole day. We were always in control of the situations and followed the attacks, so we could hold onto the race lead which was nice. Charlotte’s crash in the final is of course a big disappointment, and I hope she is okay.”
How It Happened
The 60 rider peloton rode the first two hours of stage 5 (140 km) at a moderate pace (36.7kph) with little action taking place.
It wasn’t until after the riders had completed 65 km that the first attack of the day came from Audrey de Keersmaeker (Lotto Dstny), who quickly forced a 35 second gap that increased to 55 seconds and then grew to more than a minute.
Over the next 20 km, De Keersmaeker continued to increase her gap until it was more than 2 minutes.
With around 54 km remaining, the peloton became animated when when Anna Henderson (Visma|Lease a Bike) pushed the pace at the front on the short climb. This attack was followed by more attacks from Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco), Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl -Trek) and then more by other riders on the Visma|Lease a Bike team.
With 50 km to go, Nienke Veenhoven (Visma|Lease a Bike) attacked and forced a gap of 10” but was quickly absorbed by SD Worx-Protime.
With 46 km to go, the gap to De Keersmaeker was reduced to 1 minute as the pelton upped the pace. Less than 10 km later she only had 25 seconds.
Over the next 30 km, De Keersmaeker held a gap of around 25 seconds as the peloton maintained a pace that kept her in their sights. Then with 20 km left, Visma|Lease a Bike started attacking and the gap to De Keersmaeker dropped to 10 seconds.
With less than 15 km to go the peloton caught De Keersmaeker and Visma|Lease a Bike began attacking again but was neutralized by SD Worx-Protime.
With 10km remaining, attacks started coming but were shut down by Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx – Protime) who was on the front monitoring any dangerous moves.
At 5km to go, SD Worx-Protime riders came to the front and began to set up their sprinter, Lorena Wiebes, for the anticipated sprint final. Visma|Lease a Bike joined them and the two teams shared the front, with dsm-firmenich PostNL moving up through the middle.
At 1 km to go, a crash struck the peloton taking down Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and causing some confusion for the riders who remained upright.
With 500 meters left, Rachele Barbieri (dsm-firmenich PostNL) led out the sprint, but was unaware that teammate Kool had crashed.
At 200 meters, Lorena Wiebes launched her sprint with Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) on her wheel and powered to the line, well ahead of Balsamo and Nienke Veenhoven (Visma|Lease a Bike).
Audrey De Keersmaeker soloed for more than 70 km, earning her the red jersey (photo: Simac Ladies Tour)
RESULTS
Stage 5: Doetinchem(140km)