Lorena Wiebes stormed to her second consecutive stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes on Tuesday, winning the fourth leg after denying Marianne Vos in a sprint finish at Poitiers.
Dutch rider Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) made her move around 250m from the line on a short uphill finish, with compatriot and overall leader Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) unable to overhaul her. Ireland’s Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) was third across the line in the bunch sprint.
The largely flat 130.7-km stage from Saumur saw the peloton remain tightly packed until the closing stretch before a showdown among the sprinters, with green jersey wearer Wiebes following up her victory in Angers on Monday’s chaotic third stage.
The 26-year-old has moved up to second in the general classification, 12 seconds behind Vos with Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) six seconds back in third. Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), who suffered a heavy crash on Monday, was able to continue the race after medical tests and sits sixth in the race for the yellow jersey.
Wednesday’s hilly stage runs 168.5km from the Futuroscope theme park just outside Poitiers to the town of Guéret, before the first full mountain stage begins in Clermont-Ferrand on Thursday.