How the race finished
Chloé Dygert (Canyon//Sram Racing) powered away to the win on the uphill punch finish. Lizze Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) once again showed her positioning prowess to take second, with Soraya Paladin (Canyon//Sram Racing) rounding out the peloton.
Full results are available below.
How it happened
Looking ahead to another attacking day of riding, the day got underway with a number of non-starters following crashes in the first stage. With no break established before the first intermediate sprint, the overall contenders battled it out for the bonus seconds. Race leader Charlotte Kool (DSM) was first across the line to extend her lead, with Maike van der Duin (Canyon//Sram Racing) and Clara Copponi (FDJ-Suez) on her wheel. In the second sprint, April Tacey (Lifeplus Wahoo) and Talita de Jong had a gap on the peloton, sweeping up the major points, with Copponi coming through for third. After the duo were caught with around 50km remaining, Tacey’s teammate Typhaine Laurance attacked up the second QoM climb. Laurance build a strong solo lead, but was eventually brought back some twenty kilometres later on the slopes of North Hill.
Shortly after, the big names started to play, in a flurry of attacks similar to yesterday. Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon//Sram Racing) were involved in initiating attacks, and the peloton split into two. Everything came back together, but in the lead up to the next time up North Hill Trek Segafredo set a searing pace on the front. It was Maike van der Duin, however, that was able to capitalise on the pace, going solo with 11 kilometres remaining. Behind her, Trek-Segafredo and Canyon//Sram Racing looked at DSM, who, with the race leader and arguably the fastest finisher in the bunch, had the onus to lead the chase. DSM, however, were low in numbers, with only Pfeiffer Georgi available to help the chase.
As the peloton took a few moments to sort themselves out, van der Duin got into a strong TT position and extended her gap out to over 30 seconds. Eventually, recognising the threat to GC, Trek-Segafredo started relaying on the front with Pfeiffer Georgi. Inside the last three kilometres, the gap had come down significantly, but van der Duin still held a slender lead. After speeding through a corner, a touch of wheels in the chasing bunch brought the back half of the group down. Charlotte Kool was among those on the ground, but, as the crash was within the final 3km, she was given the same time as the bunch, and retained her race lead.
Up ahead, the work of Trek Segafredo and DSM caught van der Duin on the lower slopes of the punchy finishing straight, but her teammate Soraya Paladin and Chloé Dygert were in the perfect position. With Dygert on the front through the final corner, Paladin dropped her wheel a little, forcing Deignan to loose speed and go the long way round. Dygert powered away clear to the line, with Deignan holding on for second and Paladin rounding out a great day for Canyon//Sram in third.
Stage Two – Full Results
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