9th in the 2nd stage of the Ladies Tour Thuringen, Gladys Verhulst signs her best performance of the year in a mass sprint. Leah Curinier is 17th.
ON THE LINE WITH…
GLADYS VERHULST
“The final of the second stage of Thüringen was tortuous and perilous with railway tracks on the road, frequently. It was really more than acrobatic. I am happy with my 9th place as there are not any competitors in front of me, they are all girls who go very fast. I even have a lot of sprinters who finish behind me like Brennauer. We got a little lost, the girls and I in the final, so I took the option of taking the wheels of the train in front of me. In any case, there were not many choices as the peloton was in single file! And I put girls behind me up as I go along. This is my first top 10 this year on a massive sprint. I am satisfied with my day “.
THE DEBRIEF ‘
Grégoire Le Calvé (Sporting Director): “Our strategy was to hit the shots on the first lap of the 65km circuit, and if there was no breakaway, we had to try to get on the last two climbers before the finish. During the second, a fall occurred, and several of our riders were caught in it: Sandra, Lucie and Charlotte, only the latter did not manage to return to the peloton. The stage ends with a massive sprint, with a long downhill section and directional islands. The last kilometre was dotted with roundabouts and crossed by a tram line, to end with two successive turns: the first at 90° to the right, and the second with the same angle but to the left! Lucie gets tight in the bends, Gladys manages to rub and takes place and finishes 9th. behind riders of DSM, SD Worx, Trek Segafredo, Movistar and Jumbo-Visma. Leah is 17th, her mission was not to sprint, but to rub a little place for Gladys and take no break in the final, like Sandra. They both succeeded. So we still have four girls ranked overall. In the team classification on this stage, moreover, we appear at the 3rd place behind DSM and Jumbo-Visma”.
