The tide can turn very quickly. Marianne Vos returned on Thursday to cycling competition with a false start by crashing in the prologue of the BeNe Ladies Tour. On Friday, she proved in the 1st stage that she is back in the game. She was in the lead for several dozens of kilometres, only to be outsprinted by Alice Barnes in the finish town of Philippine.
Stage 1 through the Zeelandic countryside was not easy. The peloton had to digest a series of tough cobblestones sections, combined with on and off rain showers and a brutal wind. Already early in the stage, the riders passed the Westerscheldetunnel, much to the delight of those who enjoy nice pictures.
DS Eric van den Boom: “The wind had a free pass in the opening phase which we tried to use to our advantage to reduce the group and to lose some of the competition. We also tried to position Jeanne for the first rush of the day as she is rather close in the classification.”
Jeanne Korevaar, Moniek Tenniglo and Rotem Gafinovitz completed a good prologue for WM3 Pro Cycling on Thursday evening. The time differences with those at the top of the overall ranking were fairly limited prior to the start this morning, leaving Eric van den Boom with several irons in the fire in the final of the 1st stage.
It was eventually Marianne Vos who, at around 50 kilometres from the finish line, took the lead in the stage. Initially, she was part of a group of 6 escapees of which only Marianne and Alice Barnes survived. Marianne tried to break away, but to no avail. In the sprint, she had to surrender to Alice Barnes who hit a double strike.
“It’s a pity this didn’t lead to a victory, but beforehand, one could only have hoped for this scenario. Marianne was very active today and made a leap after yesterday’s prologue, including a set of bonus seconds during the race which brings Marianne back in the game”, says DS Eric van den Boom.
