Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour: Lorena Wiebes wins stage 2

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Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) won the bunch sprint in Gera to secure the stage 2 victory at Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour. 

Wiebes beat the previous day’s winner and overall race leader Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) while Christine Majerus (SD Worx) finished third.

“Today was a bit of an easier stage than yesterday,” Wiebes said. “We controlled the race and staying in front the whole race and then with the lead-out we did a really good job getting into a strong position.

“The team placed me coming into the important last two corners where I could start my sprint in a great position. It gives us great confidence going into the coming days.”

Multiple opportunistic attacks were reeled back in throughout the cold and wet stage and the peloton crested the final climb together to set up for an anticipated bunch sprint on the cobblestone streets of Gera.

Wiebes won the kick to the line proving to be on great form while Norsgaard, ever-present at the front of the field, finished just one second behind but retained her overall race lead heading into the third stage on Thursday.

How it unfolded

The second stage at the Lotto Thuringen Ladies Tour offered a 125km held across two large circuits in Gera. The route included three intermediate sprints (14.5km, 60.5km and 78km) along with four category climbs (35km, 49.5km, 99.5km and 112.5km) before finishing on the streets of Gera.

Early attacks were reeled back in just in time for Belgian Champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) to take the max points in the opening intermediate sprint at Polzig ahead of Aude Biannic (Movistar) and Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo).

Several attacks came from RSG Gießen Biehle until Helena Bieber managed to clear the field and held a 23-second gap heading into the first climb, but she was caught on the slopes of the Durrenberg. Kathrin Hammes (Ceratizit-WNT) picked up full points the top of the climb with Bieber holding on for second place and Ella Harris (Canyon-SRAM) in third.

The peloton was all back together heading into the steep 15 per cent ascent of the Kaltenborn with Hammes taking full points again ahead of Harris and her teammate Hannah Ludwig.

Katharina Fox from the RSG Gießen Biehle team was the next to attack and managed to open a gap on the field that built up to one minute heading into the start of the second and final large circuit. Fox rolled through the second intermediate sprint at to take max points. Behind in the main field, Liane Lippert (Team DSM) picked up second-place points with overall leader Norsgaard with third-place points.

Fox also took the final intermediate sprint at Polzig, while the peloton behind her fought for remaining spots, with Kopecky taking second place and Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) taking third place.

The solo RSG Gießen Biehle rider was caught ahead of the penultimate climb over Durrenberg. There were several more attacks coming from the Hitec team but the field remained intact and Hammes crested the climb first to snap up the max mountain points head of Emilia Fahlin (FDJ) and Harris. Hammes’ efforts means that she now leads the mountain classification.

Amalie Lutro (Hitec Products) was the next to try her chance at a solo breakaway but she was pulled back into the fold as the speeds on the peloton increased in the closing 20km.

Amy Pieters (SD Worx) crested the final climb of the day over the Kaltenborn ahead of Lippert and Norsgaard and the some 60-rider field barreled down toward the finish line for a sprint in Gera won by Wiebes.