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Daniek Hengeveld (Ceratizit-WNT) soloed to win stage 1 of the Santos Ladies 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.
Just a few 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 stored her head down, pushing the hole to 2 minutes inside 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.
Extra to observe….
The way it unfolded
82 riders made up the peloton for the primary Ladies’s WorldTour race of the yr as Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Well being) and Anouska Koster of UNO-X Mobility have been non-starters.
The bunch remained collectively by means of the primary 18km till Alyssa Polites (ARA Australian Nationwide Group) launched a transfer and, not drawing out any companions, she solid on alone. The 2021 triple junior nationwide champion who raced with Jayco-AlUla in 2023 regarded to have one thing to show together with her assault, and she or he gained a most of two:30 earlier than the peloton started working to regulate the hole.
A crash from Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) briefly interrupted the chasing peloton as half a dozen riders got here down together with her, however the tempo quickly picked up and Polites’ hole started to fall.
Polites led by means of the primary intermediate dash and, extra importantly, stayed clear for the only labeled 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.
Daniek Hengeveld (Ceratizit-WNT) was the following 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 girl, 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 joyful to avoid wasting their legs for the ultimate 45km. Hengeveld having a lead of solely 28 seconds on the bunch contributed to the shortage of motivation to chase.
Hengeveld stayed clear for the second intermediate dash with 30.1km to go, having carved out a niche of effectively over one minute whereas Marturano was absorbed by the peloton. Karijn 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 a protracted 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 have been over, FDJ-SUEZ, AG Insurance coverage-Soudal and EF-Training-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 nearly 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 carry the Dutch rider again, and she or he completed 42 seconds forward of the peloton led residence by Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ).
Outcomes
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