DUTCH cyclist Lorena Wiebes won the fourth stage of the women’s Tour de France on Tuesday, outpacing her compatriot and yellow jersey-holder Marianne Vos at the end of a bunch sprint.
Just as in the previous day’s stage, the SD Worx team sprinter once again beat the overall leader by a wheel to claim her second consecutive stage victory.
“On the final straight it was a big chaos and I was really fighting for position,“ said Wiebes, 26.
“It’s really nice to win again and it’s really nice to finish it off for the girls after their hard work at the end again.”
Ireland’s Lara Gillespie completed the podium at the end of a stage which was thankfully much cleaner than Monday’s in Angers, when several riders found themselves caught up in a mass crash.
The main victim of that crash, Dutch rider Demi Vollering, appeared apprehensive at the start in Saumur on Tuesday.
But the overall favourite for the Tour finished in the peloton in the same time as Wiebes.
Vollering sits sixth overall, 25sec behind leader Vos and 13sec behind second-placed Wiebes.
Tuesday’s stage was led by Franziska Koch of Germany and Brazilian Ana Vitoria Magalhaes, after they made a break just over an hour into the day’s racing.
They were caught 3km from the finish line by the SD Worx team, who catapulted Wiebes to her 16th victory this season and the 109th of her career.
“She’s (Wiebes) just the best sprinter in the world, she’s a phenomenon in the sprint and every time she shows it again,“ said veteran Vos.
“It’s nice to keep the yellow on such a day. You know it’s going to be tough,“ added the 38-year-old.
Wednesday will be the longest stage of the 2025 edition with its 165.8km run between Chasseneuil-du-Poitou/Futuroscope and Gueret, complete with a slog to the finish featuring three climbs inside the final 35km. – AFP
