Lorena Wiebes takes overall victory at Simac Ladies Tour

Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) won the general classification at the Simac Ladies Tour on Sunday, having held the yellow leader’s jersey from the opening stage. 

The 23-year-old, who became the European road champion in Munich last month, finished outside of a podium place just once at the six-day Dutch race, winning the first two stages to claim her 18th and 19th victories of the season. 

Two runners-up spots then followed for the Team DSM rider. On stage three, Wiebes crossed the line behind her teammate Charlotte Kool, who took a maiden WorldTour win in Gennep. The following day, Dutch road champion Riejanne Markus (Jumbo-Visma) broke Team DSM's streak of dominance at the race, soloing to victory inside the final 6km and forcing Wiebes to settle for second in a bunch sprint. 

Stage five offered an individual time trial - just the second of this year's women's WorldTour calendar. In the French national bands, Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo) clocked the fastest time, holding an average speed of over 42km/h around the 17.8km course in Sittard-Geleen. Wiebes took a commendable fifth place, finishing 21 seconds down on the Frenchwoman.  

With just six seconds separating Wiebes and Cordon-Ragot in the overall standings, the final stage was set up for a thrilling finale. On a punchy circuit in Arnhem, Mischa Bredewold (Parkhotel Valkenburg) broke free with 6km to go and dug deep to hold on for her first win of the season. Wiebes rolled home for third on the day, five seconds ahead of Cordon-Ragot to seal the overall win and secure the yellow jersey. 

With this victory, Wiebes took her second general classification win of the year, having dominated the RideLondon Classique in May, where she won all three stages. 

The 23-year-old is set to leave her current team at the end of the season, joining SD Worx in 2023 on a three-year contract. When the signing was announced in August, Wiebes said in a statement: “I look back with pride on an instructive and very successful time with Team DSM. I will try to make it a successful remaining term of this season.”

One month on, Wiebes has stayed true to her word.