Victory in the morning road stage and third in the afternoon time trial hand orange jersey to Dutch Cervélo rider
Kirsten Wild (Cervélo TestTeam) has taken the overall lead in the Holland Ladies Tour after two stages in one day in Rijssen, in the east of the Netherlands. The Dutch sprinter took her second successive victory to win the morning’s fifth stage in a bunch sprint, then finished third in this afternoon’s time trial. She took the orange leader’s jersey from Martine Bras (Mixteam Merida/Gauss), who has held it since winning stage 2.
“I am especially happy with my victory today,” said Wild. “Every little bit helps and this second sprint victory certainly proved successful for me.”
Once again Wild had her team to thank in the 80.4km road stage after she and Vos were among those brought down in a crash with 7km to go. The 27-year-old’s Cervélo teammates Sarah Düster and Charlotte Becker paced her back to the front, where she beat Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) and Shelley Olds (United States) into second and third.
Earlier in the stage a breakaway got clear featuring Wild’s teammate Regina Bruins and Belgian champion Liesbet De Vocht (Nederland Bloeit).
The afternoon time trial was won by former Dutch champion Ellen Van Dijk (HTC-Columbia), beating reigning champion Vos by just over a quarter of a second. Wild finished just 1 seconds behind to take third place.
Race leader Bras lost 1’15” to Van Dijk and Vos, and 1’14” to Wild, and so slips out of the overall picture; thanks to time bonuses on the finish line Wild moves into the race lead, 3 seconds ahead of Vos.
Tomorrow’s seventh and final stage in Hellendoorn is very likely to end in a bunch sprint, meaning the race should go down to the wire. Wild is 3 seconds ahead of Vos thanks to time bonuses for her two stage victories; precious seconds on the line tomorrow could hand the overall victory to either rider.
Result stage 5
1. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
3. Shelley Olds (United States)
4. Emma Johansson (Swe) RedSun Cycling Team
5. Martine Bras (Ned) Mixteam Merida/Gauss
6. Sara Mustonen (Swe) Hitec Products UCK
7. Vera Koodoeder (Ned) Batavus Ladies Cycling Team
8. Andrea Bosman (Ned) Leontien.nl
9. Erinne Willock (Can) Canadian National Team
10. Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC-Columbia
Result stage 6
1. Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC-Columbia
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
3. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam @ 1s
4. Linda Villumsen (NZl) HTC-Columbia @ 7s
5. Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam @ 10s
6. Regina Bruins (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam @ 15s
7. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 25s
8. Evelyn Stevens (USA) HTC-Columbia @ 29s
9. Emma Johansson (Swe) RedSun Cycling Team @ 31s
10. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Noris Cycling Team @ 32s
Standings after stage 6
1. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Cervélo TestTeam
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 3s
3. Ellen Van Dijk (Ned) HTC-Columbia @ 40s
4. Charlotte Becker (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam @ 50s
5. Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 1’05”