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Daniek Hengeveld (Ceratizit-WNT) soloed to win stage 1 of the Santos Girls Tour Down Below in Aldinga Seashore and claimed the race’s first ochre chief’s jersey.
Hengeveld attacked solo inside of fifty kilometres to go and upstaged the sprinters staff to safe her first WorldTour victory, crossing the road 36 seconds forward of the peloton.
A couple of kilometres after her solo flyer, a counter-attack fizzled rapidly as Hengeveld elevated her lead kilometre after kilometre because the peloton appeared disinterested in chasing. The 22-year-old Dutch rider saved her head down, pushing the hole to 2 minutes within 30 kilometres to go.
Alarms beginning to ring within the peloton and Canyon-SRAM despatched Chloé Dygert and Tiffany Cromwell to the entrance to chase, however with none concerted assist from different groups, the peloton was too late to catch the solo rider.
Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ) took the chaotic discipline dash for second place and Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Well being) was third.
Hengeveld admitted that her assault was in response to struggling on the lone categorized climb of the day.
“I used to be really not even considering, I used to be simply it is a new staff and we needed to be aggressive and I used to be really struggling on the climb and I used to be like properly, I higher simply go now as a result of all people is struggling. In order that was my motivation to only go and see how far I’m going,” Hengeveld stated.
“It was nonetheless far, and I used to be alone and I used to be like, oh, I’ll see how far I come.”
With the addition of time bonus seconds, Hengeveld tops the overall classification with 43 seconds on Wollaston. Schweinberger is an additional two seconds again.
Stage 2 ought to ship probably the most decisive of the three days of racing because the peloton tackles 115km from Unley to the highest of Willunga Hill.
The way it unfolded
82 riders made up the peloton for the primary Girls’s WorldTour race of the 12 months as Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Well being) and Anouska Koster of UNO-X Mobility had been non-starters.
The bunch remained collectively via the primary 18km till Alyssa Polites (ARA Australian Nationwide Group) launched a transfer and, not drawing out any companions, she cast on alone. The 2021 triple junior nationwide champion who raced with Jayco-AlUla in 2023 regarded to have one thing to show along with her assault, and he or she gained a most of two:30 earlier than the peloton set to work to manage the hole.
A crash from Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) briefly interrupted the chasing peloton as half a dozen riders got here down along with her, however the tempo quickly picked up and Polites’ hole started to fall.
Polites led via the primary intermediate dash and, extra importantly, stayed clear for the only real categorised climb on Heatherdale Hill with 54km to go to safe the lead within the mountains classification.
Shortly after the summit, the peloton breezed previous with counter-attacks flying.
“I had the end line proper on the QOM,” Polites stated. “They simply actually egged me on within the automotive. And I made it throughout.”
Daniek Hengeveld (Ceratizit-WNT) was the subsequent attacker to go clear solo into the crosswind. With 45.5km to go, a counter-attack of 4 riders from the peloton went after the Dutch lady, together with Ella Wyllie (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Greta Marturano (UAE Group ADQ).
Solely Marturano continued in pursuit of the solo chief because the peloton was completely happy to save lots of their legs for the ultimate 45km. Hengeveld having a lead of solely 28 seconds on the bunch contributed to the dearth of motivation to chase.
Hengeveld stayed clear for the second intermediate dash with 30.1km to go, having carved out a spot of properly over one minute whereas Marturano was absorbed by the peloton. Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Group ADQ) mopped up the factors for second place within the dash, including to her tally after doing the identical within the first intermediate dash.
On the uncategorised climb inside the ultimate 30km, Hengeveld added to her benefit, approaching the summit of the steepest pitch with two minutes in hand and solely 27.5km to go. Nevertheless, the 22-year-old had 5 extra kilometres of gradual climbing and an extended descent into Aldinga Seashore forward.
Regardless of groups like Canyon-SRAM with Chloé Dygert and Tiffany Cromwell, Hengeveld’s hole was almost three minutes as she neared the ultimate 20km of the stage. As soon as the climbs had been over, FDJ-SUEZ, AG Insurance coverage-Soudal and EF-Schooling-Oatly despatched riders to assist nullify Hengeveld’s 2:30 lead, but it surely did not appear to be coming down quick sufficient.
Hengeveld nonetheless had virtually 2 minutes on the sphere with solely 8.5 kilometres and her hole was simply an excessive amount of for the sphere. A furtive chase within the closing kilometres did not convey the Dutch rider again, and he or she completed 42 seconds forward of the peloton led dwelling by Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ).
Outcomes
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