Lorena Wiebes finished off another dominant performance from the team with her second stage win in two days.

Today’s predominantly flat and fast 116km parcours lent itself to a bunch sprint, and with all Team DSM riders policing the front of the peloton, it took until we reached the Berendries for any riders to attack. Setting a blistering pace from the bottom of the climb and following a move, Liane Lippert temporarily gained a small advantage of around 15 seconds with one other rider but ultimately was bought back after the climb.

After this, there was a flurry of counterattacks but all were kept under control by Pfeiffer Georgi and Esmée Peperkamp, who were then able to set up Wiebes perfectly to take the first intermediate sprint. The increase in pace as they crossed the line for the first time forced a split in the group, with Wiebes and Georgi then going clear in a group of eight as they entered the finishing circuit.

Crossing the line for the penultimate time, a lone rider attacked from the front group but after a massive effort from Georgi to close the 48 second gap, Wiebes opened up for a long sprint and another convincing win.

Wiebes said after the finish: “Today we tried to make the race hard at the Berendries with Liane, but everything came back together. When we went for the first sprint, Pfeiffer and I ended up in the breakaway. On the last lap, one girl went on the attack and Pfeiffer did a massive job to chase her down and I was happy to finish the teamwork off.”

Team DSM Coach Bennie Lambregts was pleased with the team performance:“The team were super impressive today and Lorena’s win is also a win for the team, especially Pfeiffer. She was so strong in the final laps. We’ve got the GC still and a second stage win so we can be very pleased. On to the next one!”