Team DSM’s Lorena Wiebes demonstrated her unrivalled speed once again as she sprinted to win stage two of this year’s Women’s Tour in Harlow on Tuesday.

Wiebes, who won back-to-back stages of last year’s race, comfortably took the victory along Third Avenue after an impressively-timed lead-out by her team-mates. In the fight for second, Movistar Team’s Barbara Guarischi pipped Canyon//SRAM Racing rider Shari Bossuyt to the line.

Stage one winner Clara Copponi placed sixth and retained her overall lead. By virtue of the time bonuses she accrued at the day’s Pillar intermediate sprints, Maike Van der Duin (Le Col – Wahoo) moved up to second overall, three seconds behind Copponi. Wiebes now sits third, a further second back.

“Today was not a really hard stage and there was quite a good speed in the bunch,” explained a smiling Wiebes. “We had no problems today, we were good together in the front at the intermediate sprints and over the [SKODA] QoMs. At six kilometres to go there was a crash and only Franzi [Koch] and I were in the small peloton after it but luckily Megan [Jastrab] and Charlotte [Kool] came back. 

“We were a bit stuck in the middle of the road before the sprint so I found my own way out a bit. In the last straight the girls found me again and we did a really nice lead out. They set me up perfectly. We can be super proud of ourselves and we’re looking forward to the next stages now.”

Video: Women’s Tour 2022 stage two highlights

In addition to the overall lead Copponi keeps the Breast Cancer Now Points jersey with a five-point lead over Wiebes. Christine Majerus (Team SDWorx) continues to hold the ŠKODA Queen of the Mountains jersey, albeit with just a single point advantage over Gladys Verhulst (Le Col – Wahoo).

Verhulst and Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) had gone clear with just under 19 kilometres remaining as the race approached the final categorised climb at Stonnards Hill, before being caught with 2.5 kilometres out from Harlow to set up the fast finish on Third Avenue.

The only other significant action of the day saw Sammie Stuart (CAMS – Basso) make a solo move that at one stage saw her gain over a minute’s advantage. It is the second day running that the British team took the Adyen combativity award, having been the only squad to show significant interest in attacking.

“I didn’t expect it to pan out like that really,” said Stuart, who only joined the team last week and works as a firefighter with Lancashire Fire & Rescue. “I’m mega happy winning that award today. It was hot out there, so it was very hard, and I was certainly on my own out there because my comms had broken as well so I had no information coming in – all I had was the board each time the motorbike came past. It was difficult but enjoyable.

“We have come here to see what we can do, and I think we are proving ourselves as a team. Dani [Shrosbree] won the award yesterday, I’ve won it today, so I think we have put CAMS – Basso up there with the rest of the teams.”  

For full results and standings, powered by Brother UK, please click here.

Highlights of the second stage of the Women’s Tour will be on ITV4 at 8pm on Tuesday 7 June and available on demand via the ITV Hub.

Stage three takes place in Gloucestershire, covering 107.9 kilometres (67.1 miles) from Tewkesbury to Gloucester, via the Forest of Dean.  The stage is expected to finish alongside the historic Gloucester Docks at approximately 2.05pm, with live coverage on Eurosport Player and the GCN+ app from 12:30pm.