After making history yesterday by taking the first yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes, Team DSM were back in action for today’s second stage with Lorena Wiebes resplendent in the leader’s jersey as the bunch rolled out of Meaux. Faced with a predominantly flat 136 kilometre long stage, albeit with a kick up to the line, a flurry of attacks at the beginning of the stage saw the break of the day form out front.
Taking up the onus in the peloton to chase, Franziska Koch set a good tempo and kept the break relatively close. Approaching 80 kilometres to go the nervousness in the bunch increased as they approached a potential crosswind section and as a result the break was caught and the race was all back together. Proceedings stayed calm for a while but unfortunately some crashes caused splits in the bunch approaching 30 kilometres to go. Through the finish line for the first time Wiebes took second place, while lone escapee Van der Duin scooped up maximum points. Using the false flat over the top of the finish climb, a strong five rider group launched a counter-attack and bridged across to the front.
The team took up the chase as they battled through a crosswind section but those ahead worked well together and heading into ten kilometres to go the gap was 30 seconds. Despite a fully committed chase by everyone in the team, those ahead would fight it out for the stage win and the new yellow jersey. Honouring the maillot jaune and the team’s all-in efforts in the chase, Wiebes sprinted to the line to lead home the chasing peloton, claiming sixth place at the finish.