The penultimate day of racing at the Simac Ladies Tour saw the peloton take on a testing 149 kilometre long parcours, featuring several laps of a hard circuit. Knowing the area well, with the team’s Keep Challenging Center based not far away in Sittard, the team were hoping to put that local knowledge to use.
It was a fierce start to the day with multiple attacks, where Susanne Andersen, Megan Jastrab and Pfeiffer Georgi made it into a small 15 rider group. However, they were soon brought back and the attacks started again before one rider went clear. With all Team DSM riders in the bunch, focus remained on staying safe and conserving energy for the finale.
Heading into the last 40 kilometres the pace drastically increased in the peloton and the attacks started again, with a three rider group going clear, which Georgi just was unable to follow. In the chase group, the race leader’s team worked to hold the gap steady at one minute before Jastrab impressed on her WorldTour debut, coming to the fore and reducing the advantage for those out front. With Jastrab pulling over, Georgi launched a fierce attack, getting a small gap over the rest of the group but after a strong chase from those behind she was reeled in.
The leading trio would ultimately fight it out for the stage win, with Georgi digging deep all the way to the line on the uphill drag to take a fine eighth place, and hold onto the best young rider’s jersey ahead of tomorrow’s final stage.