Women’s Tour of Britain: Wiebes claims double as Simmonds solo bid fails | Cycling



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Lorena Wiebes clinched a historic double at the Women’s Tour of Britain with her second consecutive stage victory, while Demi Vollering remained on track for the overall victory with one stage to go.

DSM team driver Wiebes dominated road racing world champion Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service) to finish first at Clacton-on-Sea, with Maria van’t Geloof (Drops-Le Col) third. Wiebes is the first female rider to win consecutive stages on the Women’s Tour of Britain since Marianne Vos in 2014.

Another Dutchwoman, Demi Vollering (SD-Worx) will approach the final stage more than a minute ahead of the overall standings, but may have had moments of nervousness on Friday after a daring solo breakaway effort by the Briton Hayley Simmonds.

Simmonds (Cams-Basso Bikes) spent a good part of the day in the virtual leader’s blue jersey after opening up a lead of more than four minutes over the peloton, but was put under pressure by a group of pursuers ahead of be overtaken by the peloton with 15km to go.

Vollering is ahead of Juliette Labous (Team-DSM) by 1min 9sec, Clara Copponi (FDJ-Nouvelle-Aquitaine) by seven seconds more. Vollering’s team-mate Amy Pieters is fourth with Joss Lowden, the best-placed British driver, in seventh. Simmonds is in 19th place overall.

Saturday’s final stage is a 155.3km run from Harverhill to Felixstowe, with two classified climbs giving the chasing pack the last chance to put Vollering under pressure.

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