Lorena Wiebes dazzled in front of Blackpool's glitterball as she made it two stage victories from two on a disrupted day at the Lloyds Tour of Britain. The Dutch rider proved why she can call herself the best sprinter on the women's tour once again, starting early to ease away from the lead-outs and pass the line first on Blackpool's promenade.
Rerouted stage and cancelled climb
The stage was delayed mid-course due to a road traffic accident ahead of the convoy, causing it to be rerouted at 17.5km and the second Queen of the Mountain climb cancelled. With the rest of the peloton unable to make a breakaway stick, Wiebes' ninth Lloyds Tour of Britain stage victory proved as predictable as the west coast rain that accompanied it.
Wiebes on her sprint tactics
"I take quite some confidence when it goes to a sprint," said the 27-year-old. "But today was also quite hard because it was pretty much straight to the finish with 10km to go, so there was a bigger risk of getting boxed in."
"That's why I started the sprint early at the end because I was afraid to get boxed in, but it was enough so I'm happy with it because there was a lot of headwind into the finish."
SD-Worx dominance and rivals' response
And there was plenty to celebrate for SD-Worx with Wiebes leading the general classification and points classification, while teammate Steffi Häberlin took the Queen of the Mountains jersey. The latter is not a jersey they will look to defend, with focus remaining on stage victories where their dominance is such that their competitors know they cannot compete on the same terms.
The day's most combative rider, Katrine Aalerud of Uno-X Mobility, led from a breakaway at the point the race was paused and admitted her team were looking for other routes to stage victories as a result of Wiebes' dominance. "We cannot win the sprint so why should we wait and see if Lorena wins anyway," said the Norwegian 31-year-old.
"She is the biggest sprinter and most of the time she will win the sprint so we just have to try and race our way, so why not just try the breakaway and see if it will succeed?"
