Lorena Wiebes put in a big effort to fight for her overall lead in the penultimate stage of the Baloise Ladies Tour, eventually finishing fourth and slipping down one spot on GC into second by the end of the stage.

It was a strong team display all round with Team DSM placing four riders in the top 10, with Esmée Peperkamp in sixth, Liane Lippert in seventh and Pfeiffer Georgi in tenth. World time trial champion Ellen van Dijk won the stage and assumes the race lead.

Tomorrow’s final stage presents another opportunity for the team with a flat 119.7 kilometre parcours around Deinze.

Lorena said after the race: “I think this was my best TT ever, I’m really happy with the result. The coaching from Bennie really helped my trough the TT. I was able to hold my power and give even more in the last three kilometre headwind. And I think again the whole team did a good stage. I’m looking forward to tomorrow to give it another try.”

Team DSM coach Bennie Lambreghts added: “I think that the girls showed again that they’re in really good shape, four in the top 10. To be honest, what Lorena did as a sprinter against the TT riders to finish fourth is really strong. Again, a good team performance – everyone has the motivation to really go for it so we can only be happy about that. Now onto tomorrow and hopefully we can finish the race with another good result.”