Race Writeup

It was very wet in the south-west Netherlands for Stage 1 of the Holland Ladies Tour. The Team Presentation was especially wet, suffering a downpour which gave the riders a taste of the rain to come. Throughout the stage, conditions were wet, but the rain was broken up by drier periods and even some sun.

There were various attempts to break away; but the racing on this flat, at times narrow, course was fast and the race stayed together. After two laps of a large circuit and then one lap of a smaller one, the blue Nürnberger 'train' formed in the closing kilometers and World Champion, Regina Schleicher did not disappoint. She sprinted to a perfectly timed victory to repeat her Stage 1 win in last year's event. Last year's overall Tour winner, Tanja Hennes (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) was eleventh on the stage.

There were a couple of crashes in the wet conditions. Perhaps most high profile was crash victim, Loes Markerink (@Work), who was delayed in her visit to the podium, due to washing out of a gash on her knee.

Tuesday's stage is 5 laps of a circuit based on Asse in Belgium. Total stage distance will be 122km.

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Results - Top 10 - click here to see full result

118.5km - 38.021km/h

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General Classification Top 10 - click here to see full GC

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