Lorena Wiebes again sprinted to victory in the second stage of the Women’s Tour de France on Sunday. The Dutch rider won the flat 147.9km stage from Aigle to Geneva, the second on Swiss territory, in 3 hours, 42 minutes, 8 seconds.
Lorena Wiebes sprinted to victory on the second stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday after a hilly 147.9km run from Aigle to Geneva in Switzerland, much of it lakeside.
The Netherlands' Wiebes also won the first stage on Saturday and cut an impressive figure decked out in the yellow jersey as she burst clear of the pack from 250m out to win by several bike lengths.
Read moreWiebes wins Tour de France Femmes opener to win first yellow jersey
The previous two winners of this race, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Kasia Niewiadoma, along with race favourite Demi Vollering, finished with the main pack.
Dutch time-trial specialist Riejanne Markus led the race alone over the final 39 kilometres and suffered the agony of being overtaken by the chasing pack less than 500m from the finish line.
With the temperature tipping 34C, a five-rider breakaway made a determined effort over the five early hills, making for a hard day in the saddle.
"We were chasing all day," Wiebes said of the 3hrs 42min slog. "And then Reijanne added to that. In the end I managed to get a clear run and gave it all over the last 250m," said the SD Worx-Protime star, who now has a women's record seven stage wins on the Tour de France.
The 27-year-old was thrown out of the Giro d'Italia after winning stage 1 this year when it was discovered her bike was 20g too light.
But on Sunday she tightened her grip on the yellow jersey with a 14sec lead on Kim Le Court and 16sec on Vollering thanks to taking bonus seconds for her two wins.
Italian Elisa Balsamo was second on the day and Dutch veteran Marianne Vos, 39, was third.
The peloton will roll into France on Monday's third stage which takes in a steep 11km climb just outside Geneva but ends with a flat 15km stretch to the finish line at Poligny with temperatures of 35C forcast.
The two crucial stages of the nine-day race come Tuesday with an individual time trial and Friday when the pretenders to the title climb Mont Ventoux.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
