Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) claimed her second stage win at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, holding off Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) over the line after another fierce head-to-head between the two sprint powerhouses.
On a day like that of Stage 3, it would end in similar fashion as the Dutch rider proved too much for her compatriot in a thrilling finale in Poitiers, with Lara Gillespie (UAE ADQ) putting in a strong performance to claim a podium place in third.
A consolation for runner-up Vos was that she continues to hold the yellow jersey, but Wiebes gained ground in that regard as she climbed three places into second in the GC standings, 12 seconds behind Vos, and firmed her standings in the points classification.
After a series of attacks failed to come to fruition, one rider who was able to escape with 92km to go was Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels Pro Cycling), who would shortly be joined by the duo of Franziska Koch (Picnic PostNL and Ana Vitoria Magalhaes (Movistar).
The trio would grow their advantage to just over 1’30”, with the peloton keep a firm hold on proceedings.
Rijnbeek would be caught with 54km to go after struggling to maintain distance on an uncategorised uphill sector, with the remaining duo lasting until the 4km mark as the sprint trains gathered pace ahead of the finale in the city of Poitiers, with Koch picking up the combatitivity award for her efforts to get in the breakaway.
Whilst a slight uphill finish might have appealed to the punchy riders of the bunch to pinch a win from the sprinters, it would be a heroic leadout from Wiebes’ teammates Lotte Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen, who appears to have dismissed ideas of a go at the general classification, that would keep Wiebes primed and ready in the final kilometres to open her sprint and power to victory.
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