Marianne Vos won the expected bunch sprint at the conclusion of stage two of the Tour of Scandinavia on Wednesday.
The Dutch rider was perfectly positioned in the final, picking the wheel of Swede Emila Fahlin (FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) who opened her sprint early on. Vos only came over the top in the final 20 metres, beating Fahlin into second place by less than a wheel.
After crashing earlier in the day Barbara Guarischi (Movistar) was third.
Fresh from her points jersey win at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and her recent disqualification at Vårgårda, Vos (Jumbo-Visma) showed her class in the technical final.
Trek-Segafredo dominated the closing kilometre, leading through 90º right and left bends and splitting the race, but Vos saw what was happening, and latched onto their wheel.
However, as other teams got back on with 350m to go Fahlin came sweeping over the top, and, sensing the threat Vos, fought for her wheel, pipping her to the line.
How it happened
After stage one in Denmark, the Tour of Scandinavia peloton moved across the Øresund to Sweden for was almost certain to be a second bunch sprint.
After a road transfer north, the race began in the tiny fishing village of Mollösund, on the island of Orust, just above Gothenburg, before heading tackling a third category climb and crossing the Sunsandvik bridge to the mainland.
Still heading north, through two intermediate sprints, there was one more third category climb before the run into the finish in Strömstad, close to the Norwegian border.
The opening kilometres of the stage were aggressive, but with the bigger teams hoping to take advantage of crosswinds expected later in the day, nothing was able to get away, though that didn’t stop them trying.
However, the race soon settled, the peloton heading north as one, with only a few brief stabs off the front.
With the bunch still together the intermediate sprint at Hamburgsund 55km from the line brought a change in animation, Liv-Xstra and AG Insurance-NXTG coming to the front. And, after the latter’s Eline van Rooijen took the points the pace in the entire bunch lifted, BikeExchange-Jayco taking responsibility, SDWorx, Canyon-SRAM, DSM and Jumbo-Visma all present.
The final climb at Långesjö intensified that, and the race entered its final 40km with a multitude of riders trying to get away. At one stage a group of women escaped, but cooperation was missing and it came back, though with crosswinds threatening the peloton remained active.
But once again they came to nothing and the race remained stubbornly together. Only with 15k to go did one of the Norwegian national squad’s riders get any sort of gap, but that lasted little more than a kilometre.
It did preface some action though, teams upping the pace every time an exposed stretch of road emerged. But while some were initially dropped, they got back on when the roadside trees returned, and the race entered its final five kilometres as one, a bunch sprint inevitable
The race is an evolution of the Ladies Tour of Norway and for stage three heads to father north to familiar territory, both the start town of Moss and the finish in Sarpsborg featuring in that race before.
Kristen Faulkner (BikeExchange-Jayco) took a surprise, narrow solo victory there last year, but Marianne Vos won on the same finish the last time she competed there in 2018, beating Fahlin in the pouring rain, and the Dutch rider will no doubt start on Thursday as stage favourite.
Result Tour of Scandinavia, stage two: Orust - Strömstad (153.8km)
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 3-46-42
2. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope
3. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar
4. Megan Jastrab (USA) DSM
5. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
6. Tamara Dronova (NA) Roland-Cogeas-Edelweiss
7. Floortje Mackaij (Ned) DSM
8. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM
9. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
10. Demi Vollering (Ned) SDWorx all at same time
General classification after stage two
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Jumbo-Visma in 7-23-38
2. Megan Jastrab (USA) DSM at 14 sec
3. Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ-SUEZ- Futuroscope at same time
4. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) Canyon-SRAM at 16 sec
5. Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar at same time
6. Tamara Dronova (NA) Roland-Cogeas) Edelweiss at 20 sec
7. Amalie Dideriksen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
8. Floortje Mackaij (ned) DSM
9. Alex Manly (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
10. Margaux Vigie (Fra) Valcar Travel and Service all at same time
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