Description
September 2, 2022
Simac Ladies Tour 2022 – Stage 4 – Landgraaf – Landgraaf : 135,2 km
This six-day stage-race held in the low country of the Netherlands is often the final week-long race on the Women’s WorldTour calendar and therefore a massive objective for those riders still chasing a big result.
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September 2, 2022
Simac Ladies Tour 2022 – Stage 4 – Landgraaf – Landgraaf : 135,2 km
This six-day stage-race held in the low country of the Netherlands is often the final week-long race on the Women’s WorldTour calendar and therefore a massive objective for those riders still chasing a big result. The race is characterised by its explosive opening prologue and handful of unpredictable road stages on the twisting, narrow roads that weave an intricate web over the Dutch countryside. As a result, it’s a race that favours the powerful time trialists and courageous opportunists – those riders who are brave enough to risk it all for the chance to win it all.
Riejanne Markus (Team Jumbo-Visma) won stage 4 of the Simac Ladies Tour. The Dutch champion attacked in the final kilometres of an attritional stage through the hills of Southern Limburg and got away.
Markus soloed to the finish to win the stage a few seconds ahead of yellow jersey Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) who beat Karlijn Swinkels (Team Jumbo-Visma) in the sprint for second place.
“I am super happy. We wanted to do things differently today, it’s very hard to beat Wiebes in a sprint, and we did everything to make it a hard race,” Markus said. “Anna [Henderson] was in the break for a long time, that was a great situation for us. I actually enjoyed it, we really raced with the team today. It was a really hard race, three times up the Cauberg and the other climbs, but very nice,”
Wiebes keeps the overall lead going into the stage 5 individual time trial, and is now 20 seconds ahead of Swinkels in the GC with Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo) third at 27 seconds.
The Dutch road champion timed her attack well for the stage victory, countering from the back of the group with 6.3km to go, after several other moves had been brought back.
“Often, I go too early, so I reminded myself I had to keep calm. It was a good moment to attack, and in the end it succeeded. I knew I was gone, but I didn’t know that they wouldn’t come back,” Markus said, who turned 28 on Thursday.
“It was into a headwind, but I didn’t want to look back, just pedal, and either they would come back or not. The legs don’t feel good anymore, but they don’t feel good for anyone at this time in the race, so it will be okay,” finished Markus with an eye on Saturday’s time trial.
How it unfolded
Stage 4 was the queen stage of the race, starting in Landgraaf before doing three laps of a circuit that included the climbs of the Sibbergrubbe, Cauberg, Gulperberg, Kruisberg and Eyserweg before returning to Landgraaf for the finish after 135.2 km. Two ascents each of the Cauberg and Gulperberg gave out QOM points.
Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo) and Kirstie van Haaften (Parkhotel Valkenburg) attacked early on, but as Hosking could not follow Van Haaften on the Cauberg, the 23-year-old Dutchwoman was alone in front of the race.
Van Haaften had an advantage of up to 1:15 minutes on the peloton and won the first three QOM sprints to take the lead in the QOM classification. Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma) bridged to her on the second time up the Cauberg, and the two riders continued together.
The peloton split on the steep Kruisberg, and Julie Van de Velde (Plantur-Pura) went on a solo chase of the break, making it to the front duo after a few kilometres.
On the final lap, Van Haaften lost contact on Cauberg while Wiebes led the peloton up the climb 26 seconds behind. Mischa Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Nina Kessler (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), and Tamara Dronova (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad) attacked from the peloton on the plateau after the climb and got away.
With 23km to go, Van de Velde and Henderson were 31 seconds ahead of the three chasers and 1:14 minutes ahead of the peloton of about 50 riders, putting Henderson into the virtual GC lead.
This gap came down quickly in the run-in to the Gulperberg, the chase group was reeled in, and Henderson and Van de Velde were only 19 seconds ahead after the climb while the peloton had shrunk to some 25 riders.
On the Eyserweg climb, there were attacks from Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM), and eventually these two riders jumped across to the front together with Dronova and Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura).
The gap was very small, though, and everything came back together 6.5km from the finish.
Ilaria Sanguineti (Valcar-Travel & Service), Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Team SD Worx) and Bredewold attacked to pre-empt a sprint, and Wiebes had to bring back all those moves.
With about 4 km to go, Markus put in her attack, quickly getting a sizeable gap as the rest of the group could not or would not close her down, and the Dutch champion soloed to victory.
Results :
 won stage 4 of the Simac Ladies Tour. The Dutch champion attacked in the final kilometres of an attritional stage through the hills of Southern Limburg and got away.
Markus soloed to the finish to win the stage a few seconds ahead of yellow jersey Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) who beat Karlijn Swinkels (Team Jumbo-Visma) in the sprint for second place.
“I am super happy. We wanted to do things differently today, it’s very hard to beat Wiebes in a sprint, and we did everything to make it a hard race," Markus said. "Anna [Henderson] was in the break for a long time, that was a great situation for us. I actually enjoyed it, we really raced with the team today. It was a really hard race, three times up the Cauberg and the other climbs, but very nice,”
Wiebes keeps the overall lead going into the stage 5 individual time trial, and is now 20 seconds ahead of Swinkels in the GC with Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo) third at 27 seconds.
The Dutch road champion timed her attack well for the stage victory, countering from the back of the group with 6.3km to go, after several other moves had been brought back.
“Often, I go too early, so I reminded myself I had to keep calm. It was a good moment to attack, and in the end it succeeded. I knew I was gone, but I didn’t know that they wouldn’t come back," Markus said, who turned 28 on Thursday.
"It was into a headwind, but I didn’t want to look back, just pedal, and either they would come back or not. The legs don’t feel good anymore, but they don’t feel good for anyone at this time in the race, so it will be okay,” finished Markus with an eye on Saturday’s time trial.
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
Stage 4 was the queen stage of the race, starting in Landgraaf before doing three laps of a circuit that included the climbs of the Sibbergrubbe, Cauberg, Gulperberg, Kruisberg and Eyserweg before returning to Landgraaf for the finish after 135.2 km. Two ascents each of the Cauberg and Gulperberg gave out QOM points.
Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo) and Kirstie van Haaften (Parkhotel Valkenburg) attacked early on, but as Hosking could not follow Van Haaften on the Cauberg, the 23-year-old Dutchwoman was alone in front of the race.
Van Haaften had an advantage of up to 1:15 minutes on the peloton and won the first three QOM sprints to take the lead in the QOM classification. Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma) bridged to her on the second time up the Cauberg, and the two riders continued together.
The peloton split on the steep Kruisberg, and Julie Van de Velde (Plantur-Pura) went on a solo chase of the break, making it to the front duo after a few kilometres.
On the final lap, Van Haaften lost contact on Cauberg while Wiebes led the peloton up the climb 26 seconds behind. Mischa Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Nina Kessler (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), and Tamara Dronova (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad) attacked from the peloton on the plateau after the climb and got away.
With 23km to go, Van de Velde and Henderson were 31 seconds ahead of the three chasers and 1:14 minutes ahead of the peloton of about 50 riders, putting Henderson into the virtual GC lead.
This gap came down quickly in the run-in to the Gulperberg, the chase group was reeled in, and Henderson and Van de Velde were only 19 seconds ahead after the climb while the peloton had shrunk to some 25 riders.
On the Eyserweg climb, there were attacks from Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM), and eventually these two riders jumped across to the front together with Dronova and Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura).
The gap was very small, though, and everything came back together 6.5km from the finish.
Ilaria Sanguineti (Valcar-Travel & Service), Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Team SD Worx) and Bredewold attacked to pre-empt a sprint, and Wiebes had to bring back all those moves.
With about 4 km to go, Markus put in her attack, quickly getting a sizeable gap as the rest of the group could not or would not close her down, and the Dutch champion soloed to victory.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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