Alongside a few other teams, Julia Soek took up the onus at the front of the peloton, riding strongly to stabilise the gap to the breakaway at around three minutes. As the kilometres ticked by, the advantage of the three rider group slowly diminished, with the team working well to stay towards the front of the peloton on the narrow and twisting Dutch town roads. Yet, the breakaway put up a strong fight and with a tailwind they were able to hold off the charging peloton, despite the team’s best efforts. In the chasing peloton Wiebes showed her speed to sprint to third place on the stage, and with the bonus seconds on the line, she moves into third on GC and into the lead of the white jersey competition for the team.
“We did everything we could to bring back the breakaway and the girls were strong, but it just wasn’t enough today,” expressed Wiebes as the finish. “Of course we wanted to win, so we’re a bit disappointed but that only makes us even more motivated for the next one now.”
Photo Credit: Cor Vos