Maaike Polspoel (Topsport Vlaanderen 2012-Ridley) won the fourth stage of the Profile Holland Ladies Tour in Papendrecht, outsprinting Trixi Worrack (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) in a two-up sprint at the end of a long breakaway. Linda van Rijen (Skil-Koga) crossed the line to take third place, some 28 seconds behind the leading pair at the end of the 127.5km stage.
“The conditions in the first few days were not exactly easy,” said Polspoel after the stage, “but it meant that I was so far behind that I could get into the breakaway today and win.
“Normally, I would say that the German Worrack would be faster [in the sprint],” she explained, “but I managed to force her onto the front and come around to beat her; this gives me my first international victory.”
Polspoel and Worrack escaped the peloton, along with van Rijen and Marta Bastianelli (MCipollini-Giambenini), with 75km of the stage remaining. Bastianelli was dropped early on, thanks to the 2007 World champion suffering from a mechanical, while van Rijen managed to hold on to the other two until close to the finish of the stage.
The composition of the group was deemed acceptable to the Nederland Bloeit team of race leader Marianne Vos. Worrack was the best place of the four, but at more than 14 minutes down on the overall classification, the German was of no danger to Vos’ lead.
Vos led the peloton home 1’38” behind Polspoel, beating rival Kirsten Wild (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) in the sprint. A two-second split in the peloton, as well as a two-second bonus from an intermediate sprint, mean that the Dutch champion extends her lead in the orange jersey classification to 44 seconds over Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK).
Result stage 4
1. Maaike Polspoel (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 2012-Ridley
2. Trixi Worrack (Ger) AA Drink-Leontien.nl
3. Linda van Rijen (Ned) Skil-Koga @ 28s
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 1’38”
5. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
6. Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
7. Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) Colavita-Forno d’Asolo
8. Chloe Hosking (Aus) HTC-Highroad
9. Martine Bras (Ned) Dolmans Landscaping Team @ 1’40”
10. Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Lotto Honda Team
Standings after stage 4
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Nederland Bloeit
2. Emma Johansson (Swe) Hitec Products-UCK @ 44s
3. Kirsten Wild (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 1’03”
4. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) HTC-Highroad @ 1’13”
5. Chantal Blaak (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 2’29”
6. Chloe Hosking (Aus) HTC-Highroad @ 2’30”
7. Sarah Düster (Ger) Nederland Bloeit @ 3’03”
8. Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) Nederland Bloeit @ 3’32”
9. Lisa Brennauer (Ger) Hitec Products-UCK @ 3’40”
10. Lucinda Brand (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl @ 4’46”