Annemiek van Vleuten dominant in Ladies Tour of Norway Queen stage
Annemiek van Vleuten dominant in Ladies Tour of Norway Queen stage
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) was dominant in stage 3 of the Ladies Tour of Norway, winning the Queen stage half a minute ahead of Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (SD Worx) and 41 seconds ahead of Mavi García (Alé BTC Ljubljana). With her stage victory, Van Vleuten also took over the lead of the race with one stage remaining.
With a formidable climb to finish the day, a few riders attempted to gain an advantage on the general classification favourites before the climbing started, but all breakaway attempts were not meant to be. The race hit the base of the final climb as one and right away splits began to form. Early into the 11 km long climb the overnight race leader Riejanne Markus (Jumbo-Visma) was isolated, with Team DSM and Canyon-SRAM putting pressure on the peloton.
Midway through the climb, SD Worx started throwing attacks at the reduced peloton. Niamh Fisher-Black was the first to take a turn off the front, followed by Moolman-Pasio, but Van Vleuten was not about to let the South African go.
Moolman-Pasio attacked again with just over 3 km to go. The move was matched by Van Vleuten and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope). Into the final 2.5 km, Van Vleuten dropped Moolman-Pasio and Uttrup Ludwig to take on the rest of the race alone.
Ladies Tour of Norway (2.WWT) Drammen → Norefjell
VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek
FAULKNER Kristen
BUYSMAN Nina
FISHER-BLACK Niamh
Alé BTC Ljubljana