Mischa Bredewold took her first win of the 2023 season and her first for the SD Worx team. The Dutch rider finished with a solo break after losing her break companions around 10km from the finish after initiating a move on the final QoM point of the day that bridged over to lone leader Quinty Schoens. From there the group worked well until Bredewold pushed on and showed her quality to make the win a formality. Behind her, SD Worx blitzed the field, with Lorena Wiebes allowing Barbara Guarischi to take 2nd place and Wiebes herself finished 3rd. SD Worx made it 2 from 2 after winning the opening team time trial yesterday and after finishing on the same time as overnight leader Lotte Kopecky yesterday, Mischa Bredewold takes over the leader’s jersey going into Stage 3 tomorrow.
Today’s stage was deceptively hard, with repeated ascents of the Hankaberg on the cards and around 2000m of elevation to get through the longest stage of the 2023 race. An early break of Alice Palazzi and Gina Ricardo were given some space and they were eventually joined by Quinty Schoens of Parkhotel Valkenburg (on the day news broke that the team will have a different name in 2024). Schoens’ power separated her from the former duo at the front of the race and for a time the signs looked good that she might be able to hold on.
When the clock showed she had around 3’20” advantage with 35km to go, the figures started to stack up. However that lap’s climbing allowed the gap to fall fast and Schoens was joined by an attack from Bredewold, Ivanchenko and Fox who made the catch with 17km to go. Schoens held on for a time but the relentless pace set by Bredewold soon tore the group up on a climb with 10km to go. From there, the gap never really came down fast enough, with it hovering about 30″ with 3km to go and the outcome pretty much in the books already. Bredewold duly crossed the line first, with SD Worx behind securing all of the day’s podium places.
“In the final, it felt as if I was dying, it was really very tough. But I felt very good. I had a gap immediately after my attack and thought it was possible to make it. And I succeeded. We also want to win the overall classification with the team. It doesn’t matter with whom. The jersey is now in our hands and we will try to keep it. I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen. Last year the stage was ten metres too long, which makes it extra nice to be able to finish it off this way now.”
Mischa Bredewold
2023 Thüringen Ladies Tour Stage 2 result
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Main photo credit: Arne Mill
