photo credits @ Twitter
Jolien D”hoore claimed stage 2 of this year’s Women’s Tour, after beating Lisa Brennauer (Velocio-SRAM) and Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) in a sprint finish today.  
Meanwhile, Brennauer moved up into the overall race lead, as a result of yesterday’s race leader, Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans), inability to resume racing today – following her crash at the end of stage 1.
D’hoore is now sitting in second place overall, just one second behind Brennauer, while the day’s breakaway rider Vera Koedooder (Bigla) has moved into third place ahead of Marta Tagliaferro (Alé-Cipollini), now in fourth.
Race Highlights
Today’s 138 kilometer route marked the longest stage of this year’s race, and it wasn’t until 37 kilometers of racing got underway, that Koedooder decided to make a move.
From there, the Dutch rider was joined by Sarah Roy (Orica-AIS), who managed to bridge herself across to the lone leader.
However, their time out front was short-lived, was both riders were quickly reeled in by the peloton.
Shortly thereafter, Corinna Lechner (German National Team) was the next to try her luck, only to have her moved quickly marked by Koedooder.
From there, the duo succeeded in building up a modest gap of 2 minutes over the peloton, while the American rider, Lauren Hall, tried in earnest to bridge her way to the two leaders – to no avail.
Koedooder succeeded in picking up all of the bonus points over her breakaway companion, in the meantime however, their advantage over the peloton began to diminish rapidly.
Indeed, was the race entered into the final 20 kilometers, the duo’s gap had fallen to under a minute.
With the peloton looming in the background, Lechner decided to attack her rival – putting Koedooder into full chase mode.
However, the two riders rejoined one another at the top of the second queen of the mountains climb, but at that point the peloton was only 15 seconds behind.
At that point, Koedooer found her self alone off the front, as Lechner had been caught by the chase.
But, despite her valiant effort to stay away, Koedooer was eventually caught just 4 kilometers from the finish line.
From there, teams began ushering their respective sprinters to the front, with Wiggle-Honda working hard to move Giorgia Bronzini into place. But, in the end, it was D’hoore who emerged victorious.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Jolien D’Hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda 3:23:25 2 Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Velocio – SRAM 3 Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 4 Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica – Ais 5 Anouska Koster (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 6 Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Ale Cipollini 7 Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Wiggle Honda 8 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Ale Cipollini 9 Alexis Ryan (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 10 Lucy Garner (GBr) Team Liv-Plantur 11 Hannah Barnes (GBr) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 12 Pascale Jeuland (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.89 13 Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Velocio – SRAM 14 Roxane Fournier (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.88 15 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Velocio – SRAM 16 Lotta Lepistö (Fin) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 17 Lauren Stephens (USA) USA National Team 18 Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Ale Cipollini 19 Hannah Ross (USA) USA National Team 20 Elise Delzenne (Fra) Velocio – SRAM
General Classification After Stage 2
1 Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Velocio – SRAM 6:03:06 2 Jolien D’Hoore (Bel) Wiggle Honda 0:00:01 3 Vera Koedooder (Ned) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 0:00:06 4 Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Ale Cipollini 0:00:07 5 Emma Johansson (Swe) Orica – Ais 0:00:08 6 Christine Majerus (Lux) Boels Dolmans Cycling Team 7 Coryn Rivera (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 8 Corinna Lechner (Ger) Germany 9 Elinor Barker (GBr) Matrix Fitness 0:00:09 10 Hannah Barnes (GBr) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:00:11 11 Simona Frapporti (Ita) Ale Cipollini 0:00:12 12 Alexis Ryan (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team 13 Pascale Jeuland (Fra) Poitou-Charentes.Futuroscope.89 14 Anouska Koster (Ned) Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team 15 Lotta Lepistö (Fin) Bigla Pro Cycling Team 16 Lucy Garner (GBr) Team Liv-Plantur 17 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Velocio – SRAM 18 Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Ale Cipollini 19 Gracie Elvin (Aus) Orica – Ais 20 Sarah Roy (Aus) Orica – Ais
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