BOELS LADIES TOUR
Stage four of racing at the Boels Ladies Tour saw the peloton take on a grippy parcours, with 135 kilometres from Arnhem to Nijmegen on the menu. Strong winds and rain made for an even harder day in the saddle and due to the wind, it was a nervous day for the bunch.
No breakaway was able to escape in the opening half of the stage. Instead, the bunch split several times in the strong crosswinds due to the pressure from the team, before it regrouped once the route moved to a more sheltered area. This happened several times throughout the stage until at 40 kilometres to go, Franziska Koch and two other riders managed to attack and break clear. They were soon joined by a fourth rider and the quartet worked very well together, increasing their advantage over the peloton, reaching almost a two minute lead.
Heading towards in finish in Nijmegen the rain started to fall heavily again, amplifying the difficulty of the short but sharp climbs in the finale. The climb of Oude Holleweg reduced Koch’s breakaway down to three riders and with five kilometres to go, they still held onto a lead of 40 seconds over the chasing group behind. In the final two kilometres there were a few attacks but the trio remained together as they made their way around a sweeping section of turns with only a few hundred metres to go. Koch was well positioned in second wheel coming onto the home straight, with the young German rider producing a really strong sprint and winning the stage on the bike throw to the line.
In the group behind Floortje Mackaij also secured a second top ten for the team, sprinting to tenth place on the stage and with only one stage to go tomorrow, Lucinda Brand sits in fifth place on GC.
