Simac Ladies Tour stage 3: Charlotte Kool denies Lorena Wiebes with powerful sprint victory

Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich) doubled up on stage 3 of the Simac Ladies Tour, edging out former teammate Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) in the sprint finish to add to her victory in the opening day prologue.

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) rounded out the podium in third on a day when the breakaway threatened to spoil any hopes of a sprint showdown, only eventually reeled in after a concerted effort from Wiebes’ SD Worx team. While their hopes of victory were dashed, there was consolation for the Dutch outfit as they safely protected Lotte Kopecky’s overall lead.

Read more: Simac Ladies Tour stage 2: Lotte Kopecky storms to time trial victory and jellow Jersey

Having built up a lead of over seven minutes, the breakaway briefly became a threat until SD Worx were forced to do the chasing, a conscious decision by Kool and her teammates.

“It was well worth the effort. It was really warm and we had a slow start to the race, and we thought that it’s not our job to do the chasing, and that really turned out well.

“Normally we do the job [of chasing], but we didn’t have the yellow jersey anymore. So it was not up to us to chase, it was time for someone else to do the chasing. Everyone was fresh in the final, and as you see what kind of lead out Franziska Koch did, and I made sure I was not locked in. If I can do my sprint, I know that I’m really fast and today I could just do my sprint, and it turned out really well."

The win was made all the more sweeter by the calibre of the field, including Wiebes who has asserted herself as the dominant sprinter for most of the season.

“It’s a great feeling to win, that was our goal, and when we succeed it’s great.”

Read more: Simac Ladies Tour Prologue - Charlotte Kool blasts to victory

Breakaway threatens sprint ambitions

With a prologue and individual time trial packed into the opening three days, stage 3 was only the second road stage at this year’s race. Like stage 1, it provided a perfect opportunity for the sprinters, with a 156.6km pan-flat route that wound itself from Emmeloord to Lelystad, where riders tackled two laps of a 60km finishing circuit in scorching temperatures.

There were some potential threats to the hopes of the sprinters, including the potential for crosswinds with the route clinging to the Dutch coastline for much of the day. Any hopes of echelon action were dampened by the calm conditions, leaving the breakaway as the remaining risk to a bunch sprint. It had taken over 30km for a group to escape on stage 1, but things proved to be much simpler this time around with a three-rider group escaping the grasps of the bunch after less than 10km of racing, formed of Anneke Dijkstra (GT Krush Rebel Lease), Scarlett Souren (Parkhotel Valkenburg), and Julie Sap (Lotto Dstny).

Happy with the composition and the numbers, the calm peloton allowed the breakaway’s gap to quickly balloon out, reaching over seven minutes with only 75km remaining. The sizable lead may have sparked both hope and belief in the breakaway, but the peloton remained calm, if not also slightly rudderless. None of the sprint team’s were willing to fully commit their resources to reeling in the escapees, with multiple teams only committing one rider to the chase.

A stand-off pursued which threatened to swing the pendulum into the break’s already growing ambitions, but SD Worx finally blinked as the race entered the final 50km, engaging in a more concerted chase. The increased pace also resulted in more stress and a big crash taking down multiple riders, including Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Karlijn Swinkels (Jumbo-Visma) and Karolina Kumięga (UAE Team ADQ). Second-place Rienna Marjkus (Jumbo-Visma) also went down, but quickly regained contact with the bunch.

SD-Worx boasts a formidable line-up and they quickly ate into the gap, shedding five minutes off the margin in quick-fire time. With their lead and hopes dwindling, the breakaway group started disintegrating, Dijkstra becoming the first rider to drop back. Souren and Sap became more animated, briefly exchanging attacks as the race closed in on the final 10km, but their efforts were in vain as the peloton swept them up too.

Barring a couple of brief attacks from Lifeplus-Wahoo, the path was paved for a sprint showdown and the sprint teams sprang into action, although it quickly became disjointed.

As the riders approached the finale, Jumbo-Visma and Liv Racing were on the front, but they were swamped when Wiebes and Kool launched their sprints with 200m to go. From there it was a drag race to the line, but there was nothing Wiebes could do to overcome her former teammate Kool her took her took her second win at this year’s race.

Head to the Simac Ladies Tour race page for the latest news and results from the race.