The course covered only 67.9km, from Dordrecht back to Rotterdam, where the TdFF began on Sunday and where stage 3 started about four and a half hours after stage 2 had finished
On that 6.3km time trial, defending yellow jersey champion Demi Vollering (also SD Worx–Protime) beat two-time world ITT champion and Olympics time trial bronze medalist Chloe Dygert (Canyon- SRAM) by 5 seconds and took over the GC lead from Kool.
Kool had won stage 1 after Wiebes suffered a derailleur problem at the start of the sprint, but her second win came in a furious head-to-head when her rival appeared to have started her sprint too early. Kool timed her reaction to perfection, coming from behind and even taking a longer route around Wiebes to beat her by about half a foot.
“Dreams come true quickly these days,” the winner said after the stage. “Yesterday one dream came true, today another dream came true. To win with the yellow jersey is just extraordinary.”
But she was unable to defend her yellow jersey in the stage 3 time trial, finishing 25 seconds behind Vollering, who seems to be in the form of her life and was more surprised than anyone by her ITT victory. In an emotional interview with Eurosport, she said, “I didn’t see this coming. I had no idea I could do this today. I’m really surprised, actually.”
The 27-year-old Dutch rider said she hadn’t trained for the time trial and had not even been looking for a win. “These first days are just days I needed to survive. I wanted to really enjoy these first days and actually I already had tomorrow in my head because tomorrow is a stage I really love.” But Vollering did propose one possible reason for her exceptional performance: “I took two power naps after the [earlier] stage.”
Loes Adegeest (FDJ-Suez) and Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizid-WNT) finished less than half a second behind Dygert, with Olympics road race and team pursuit gold medal winner Kristen Faulkner (EF–Oatly–Cannondale) another second adrift.
With four stages to go, it’s far too early to jump to conclusions, but both the green jersey and yellow jersey competitions may well have been decided on this double-stage day. Kool leads the points classification race by 100 points to 61 over Vos, with Wiebes a distant third, at 39 points. Stages 4 and 5 are very lumpy and ideal for breakaways, and SD Worx manager Danny Stam has already suggested that the team will not expend undue energy in pursuit of the Škoda Green Jersey.
“For [Wiebes] to take the first yellow jersey if she wins at home would be nice,” he said. “But we are not going to waste forces to defend that jersey then. Final victory prevails. So the green jersey is not immediately our focus either.”
The intermediate sprints may be the only way Vos and Wiebes can make up their deficits. But Vos has not shown that she can keep up with Kool in a sprint and Wiebes will be on her own if she wants to join a breakaway. The final two stages will be in the mountains, with that finale atop the Alpe d’Huez. It seems that all Kool has to do is make it up and over the mountains to claim her TdFF Škoda Green Jersey on Sunday.
As for Vollering, she has served notice that anyone wanting to beat her in the GC will have to be in exceptional form. And if her climbing legs are even close to her time trial legs, I don’t believe there is a rider in the race who will be able to touch her. She now leads the GC by 3 seconds over teammate Wiebes, with Deigert, Kool and Kerbaol at 5 seconds.
Stage 2
- Charlotte Kool, DSM-Firmenich-PostNL 1:32:49
2. Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx-Protime same time
3. Marianne Vos, Visma-Lease a Bike s.t.
4. Lotta Henttala, Uno-X Mobility s.t.
5. Elisa Balsamo, Lidl-Trek s.t.
Stage 3 Top 10
- Demi Vollering, SD Worx-Protime 7:25
2. Chloe Dygert, Canyon-SRAM +5 secs
3. Loes Adegeest, FDJ-Suez same time
4. Cedrine Kerbaol, Ceratizit-WNT s.t.
5. Kristen Faulkner, EF-Oatly-Cannondale +6
6. Ellen van Dijk, Lidl-Trek s.t.
7. Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx-Protime +9″
8. Mischa Bredewold, SD Worx-Protime s.t.
9. Emma Norsgaard, Movistar +10″
10. Anna Henderson, Visma–Lease a Bike +11″
GC Standings After Stage 3
- Demi Vollering, SD Worx-Protime 4:27:54
2. Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx-Protime +3 secs.
3. Chloe Dygert, Canyon-SRAM +5
4. Cedrine Kerbaol, Ceratizit-WNT same time
5. Charlotte Kool, DSM-Firmenich-PostNL s.t.
6. Loes Adegeest, FDJ-Suez s.t..
7. Kristen Faulkner, EF-Oatly-Cannondale +6
8. Ellen van Dijk, Lidl-Trek s.t.
9. Mischa Bredewold, SD Worx-Protime +9
10. Emma Norsgaard, Movistar +10
