Charlotte Kool sprinted to her second consecutive victory at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Tuesday morning, outpowering Lorena Wiebes in Rotterdam on stage two.
After taking advantage of Wiebes' mechanical problems to take the opening stage on Monday, Tuesday's win proved that Kool of dsm-firmenich PostNL had the speed to beat her SD Worx-Protime rival in ordinary circumstances too.
Kool stayed in the yellow jersey for Tuesday afternoon's stage three time trial as a result. Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished third, taking more points in the green jersey competition.
Wiebes opened up her sprint early into a headwind, with around 200m to go, with Kool given the time and the slipstream to round her Dutch rival in the closing metres. Kool eventually won by half a wheel.
"It was quite a chaotic sprint," Kool said. "We were a bit far back, but we knew to stay calm, and I tried to stay as calm as possible. I launched my sprint, and it was enough.
"We were quite in control the whole day, but we heard some crashes so I hope everyone is ok. It was hectic, but I liked it.
"Dreams come true quite fast these days," she continued. "Winning in this jersey is really special.
"I guess I am [stronger than ever]. I didn’t expect this two weeks ago, but things change fast."
Tuesday morning's stage two was the first part of a split-stage day in Rotterdam, with a 6.3km time trial this afternoon. Kool has a 14-second advantage over second-placed Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility) heading into the short race against the clock.
How it happened
It was an earlier start than usual for the peloton on a most unusual day, as two stages are to be raced on Tuesday, first a 68km flat stage from Dordrecht back to Rotterdam. The only bumps in the stage profile were caused by bridges across the Nieuwe Maas in the Dutch city.
Within a kilometre of the official start, a small crash was caused by plastic barriers narrowing the road, holding a few riders up. The incident caused a minor split in the peloton, with the race fully on already. With 60km to go, there was a second group at 17 seconds, and a third group another ten seconds behind.
With 55km to go, the split in the peloton was undone. The peloton was still very nervous, however, with Nina Berton (Ceratizit-WNT) crashing.
The race kept together for the next 10km or so, before Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) attempted to move up the road, but her attack was short-lived. With just over 40km to go Audrey De Keersmaeker powered off the front. Her gap got up to 22 seconds.
A slight coming together saw Dilyxine Miermont (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) and Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) come off. There was another crash just before the 25km to go banner, with three riders - Nikola Nosková (Cofidis), Mieke Docx (Lotto Dstn) and Yanina Kuskova (Tashkent City) off their bikes.
With 20km to go, De Keersmaeker still had 25 seconds advantage over the peloton, with the winding streets on the way into Rotterdam proving hard to make a coherent chase on.
Another 10km later, and the Belgian rider still remained out in front, but her advantage was taken below 10 seconds, and her time out front was at an end. By the time she was caught, she had spent 30km at the head of the race, surely securing her place as most combative for the first part of Tuesday.
A large split occurred with 8km to go, with a significant portion left out the back of the peloton, which was now putting the pace on, along wide roads into central Rotterdam.
Just before the 3km to go banner a crash took out two Liv AlUla Jayco riders Amber Pate and Ruby Roseman-Gannon, but this was within the 5km to go, meaning they would not lose time on GC. However, it caused another split in the peloton.
SD Worx-Protime positioned themselves on the front of the peloton as the race went into the final kilometre, working for Lorena Wiebes.
The Dutch sprinter jumped from the wheel of teammate Barbara Guarischi with around 200m to go, followed by Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who won on Monday.
Having opened up her sprint early, Kool had the opportunity to pick a gap and come round Wiebes to take victory in Rotterdam.
Results
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage two: Dordrecht > Rotterdam (67.9km)
1. Charlotte Kool (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL, in 1:32:49
2. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
3. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Lotta Henttala (Fin) EF-Oatly-Cannondale
5. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek
6. Rachele Barbieri (Ita) dsm-firmenich PostNL
7. Mylène de Zoete (Ned) Ceratizit-WNT
8. Maggie Coles-Lyster (Can) Roland
9. Martina Alzini (Ita) Cofidis
10. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, all at same time
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift general classification after stage two
1. Charlotte Kool (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL, in 4:20:09
2. Anniina Ahtosalo (Fin) Uno-X Mobility, +14s
3. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, at same time
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +16s
5. Elisa Balsamo (Ita) Lidl-Trek, at same time
6. Lotta Henttala (Fin) EF-Oatly-Cannondale, +20s
7. Mylène de Zoete (Ned) Ceratizit-WNT
8. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9. Kathrin Schweinberger (Aut) Ceratizit-WNT
10. Kim Le Court (Mau) AG Insurance-Soudal, all at same time
