Tour of Scandinavia stage 3: Lorena Wiebes storms to second win in three days

Despite a steep ramp in the final 1,500m into Larvik, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) destroyed any doubts that stage 3 of the Tour of Scandinavia was too hard for her by sprinting to an emphatic victory.

The Dutchwoman survived the difficult finish in the front group, and despite not having any teammates she was able to surf the wheels in the finale before launching her unmatchable sprint in the final 200m before the line.

Liane Lippert (Movistar) sprinted to second, several bike lengths behind Wiebes, whilst race leader Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) took third to preserve her overall lead.

Solo escapee Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck) had been up the road in the final 30km, but was caught 2km from the finish after a valiant effort with the charging peloton preparing for a sprint.

“It was more of a one-minute effort than a sprint today,” Wiebes said at the finish. “Ashleigh [Moolman Pasio] made it really hard from the beginning of the climb. Then it slowed down a little bit but then we started sprinting already at 300m to go, so I had to start almost at 300. It was a hard one.

“The team did a good job to bring the lone leader back. Niamh [Fisher-Black] did a good job of chasing, and I still had Christine [Majerus] to position me well, so everything was under control.”

A hard day to break away

After the flag dropped, it took a while for any riders to get away, and it wasn’t until 40km had been raced that Marita Jensen (Denmark) got up the road, soon joined by EF Education-TIBCO-SVB’s Zoë Bäckstedt. This escape only lasted around 15km, though, and the pair were caught again on the category 1 climb in the middle of the stage.

After this, there was something of a break in terms of attacks, but teams like FDJ-SUEZ and Movistar were setting a really hard pace on the front of the bunch, which was shelling riders out the back and whittling the group down to fewer than 50 riders.

Going into the final 50km, the action began to kick off with multiple attacks on the front of the peloton splitting the racing apart. The aggression carried on for some 20km until one rider got away in the form of Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck). The Austrian champion’s move resulted in a slight lull in the peloton, which allowed several riders to get back on and the group swelled again.

With 20km to go, Schrempf had a 50-second lead over the chasing group. Heading towards the finale, it was FDJ-SUEZ who were working hardest in support of race leader Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, with SD Worx also getting involved, sensing a sprint opportunity for Lorena Wiebes. Schrempf held strong for a long time, but was eventually caught with 2km to go as the peloton prepared for the sprint.

With 1.5km to go, the road ramped into the finish town, with the gradient meaning only the strongest were able to hold on at the front of the race, but unfortunately for the likes of Liane Lippert, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance Soudal Quick-Step) that still included Wiebes, a sprinter who is more than capable of taking on a punchy finish.

As the road flattened towards the line, the front group grew again slightly but it was still the big names at the front. Moolman Pasio led out the sprint, but Wiebes was able to launch off her wheel with 200m to go, pulling away from all her competitors and winning comfortably to take her second victory of this year’s race. The rider who would usually be able to challenge Wiebes, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) crashed in the finale and missed out on the chance to fight for the win.

Lippert took second, whilst Uttrup Ludwig took third once again, extending her overall lead from Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar). Tomorrow, the peloton will take on a 16.5km time trial around Herning in Denmark, which should further shake up the GC standings.

If you head to our Tour of Scandinavia landing page, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our race preview, the route, and start list. Check it out for all that and more.