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Amalie Dideriksen has impressively won the fourth stage in the OVO Energy Women's Tour. The 22-year-old former world champion was the fastest in the bunch sprint in Worcester. She won ahead of Lotta Lepisto and Marianne Vos. For Dideriksen it is only her first individual (international) victory of the season, however she won the team time trial in the Healthy Aging Tour in April. The victory of the Dane is the seventeenth victory of Boels-Dolmans in 2018.
The one hundred and thirty kilometer long stage with start in Evesham was marked by a breakaway of three riders. They were given a maximum lead of two and a half minutes but were caught in the last five kilometers due to the work of Team Sunweb and Boels-Dolmans. Dideriksen was then perfectly launched for the sprint by Chantal Blaak, Christine Majerus and Amy Pieters. Jip van den Bos unfortunately had to abandon the race after a crash.
"It was a very fast sprint. The girls did an amazing leadout.”, said Dideriksen. “We decided with 30 km to go it was going to be for me today. I am very happy that I have been able to reward the work of my teammates with a victory. "
"Today was a very difficult stage with a lot of wind," Dideriksen continues. "The final was very technical. I knew that we had to go through the last corner in the first few positions. Amy Pieters perfectly dropped me off with two hundred meters to go and then I just went. To my surprise, nobody was coming around me anymore."
Amy Pieters concurred the explanation of her Danish teammate. "The leadout of the team was very strong, and I'm glad Amalie was able to finish it off. Today was a very hectic start. Christine and Jip both crashed in the first kilometers. Unfortunately Jip had to abandon the race. Eventually we decided to sprint for Amalie because she was feeling very good. I'm glad it worked out."
Tomorrow is the fifth and final stage from Dolgellau to Colwyn Bay. The stage over 122 kilometers leads the peloton across the Welsh countryside. It is the first time that the OVO Enery Women's Tour is a guest in Wales. The stage through Snowdonia Park with some tough climbs will be decisive for the overall victory. With Amy Pieters (fourth) and Christine Majerus (fifth), the team has two riders in the top five in the overall standings at 25 seconds from overall leader Coryn Rivera.
"Tomorrow is going to be a very tough stage. We will give everything we have and hopefully we are able to force something. It’s going to be a challenge and we try to make the best of it. The team is very strong all week, only that little bit of luck was missing.”, Dideriksen concludes.
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