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Wiebes takes dominant second win at Tour de France Femmes / Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT - AFP
Wiebes takes dominant second win at Tour de France Femmes
Lorena Wiebes sprinted to victory on the second stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday after a hilly 147.9km run from Aigle to Geneva in Switzerland, much of it lakeside.
The Netherlands' Wiebes also won the first stage on Saturday and cut an impressive figure decked out in the yellow jersey as she burst clear of the pack from 250m out to win by several bike lengths.
The previous two winners of this race, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Kasia Niewiadoma, along with race favourite Demi Vollering, finished with the main pack.
Dutch time-trial specialist Riejanne Markus led the race alone over the final kilometres and suffered the agony of being overtaken by the chasing pack less than 500m from the finish line.
Sprint specialist Wiebes, a 27-year-old two-time former European champion, extended her overall lead to 14sec on Kim Le Court and 16sec on Vollering.
Italian Elisa Balsamo was second on the day and Dutch veteran Marianne Vos, 39, was third.
The peloton will roll into France on Monday's third stage which takes in a steep 11km climb just outside Geneva but ends with a flat 15km stretch to the finish line at Poligny.
The two crucial stages of the nine-day race come Tuesday with an individual time trial and Friday when the pretenders to the title climb Mont Ventoux.
(W.Williams--TAG)
