The penultimate day of racing at the Simac Ladies Tour saw the bunch take on a technical and twisting 17.8 kilometre long time trial from Windraak to Watersley; where a good mix of power and bike handling skills would be crucial.

Throughout the day Team DSM were always towards the top of the timing sheets with Franziska Koch and Charlotte Kool setting respectable early benchmark times of 27 minutes and seven seconds, and 27 minutes and 33 seconds respectively. However, it would be youngster Elise Uijen who would charge into the hot seat, blasting her way around the course in 26 minutes and 11 seconds. With Uijen still at the top of the timing sheets, Leah Kirchmann would complete her last time trial for the team in a respectable 26 minutes and 45 seconds.

As the afternoon progressed the times got faster and Uijen would have to vacate the the hot seat, ultimately ending the stage in a strong 12th place – a great result for her first professional time trial.

In the meantime, all eyes were on race leader Lorena Wiebes who left the starting gate at half past the hour. Riding a well measured effort and maintaining her speed throughout the course; Wiebes would stop the clock in 25 minutes and 36 seconds – a result which would see her take fifth on the day behind Cordon Ragot and hold onto the race lead for the team; setting up a final showdown on tomorrow’s last stage.

“It was a hard TT and I’m happy to hold onto the GC lead,” said Wiebes after the finish. “The roads were really familiar to me because most of them are all training roads that we do from the Keep Challenging Center so that helped. I’m happy with the performance and am looking forward to tomorrow!”

Team DSM coach Albert Timmer added: “Both Elise and Lorena did really good time trials today. I think we did everything we could to make it as perfect as possible for them and they executed it really well. We still have the leader’s jersey so that’s nice. The rest of the team also went well throughout the day. We have something to protect tomorrow now. In the end, I’m more than happy with today – we can be satisfied.”