Mara Roldan (Team Picnic PostNL) attacked on the iconic Saltburn Bank climb to take her first Women’s WorldTour victory in a rain-hampered second stage of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women as Kristen Faulkner (EF Education – Oatly) took a slender lead in the general classification.

Featured Image: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com

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Traditional Teesside rain greeted the riders as the second of four stages of this year’s Tour as accusations of the arrival of Summer proved to be unfounded as the peloton set off from Hartlepool on wet roads.

Those conditions proved nearly decisive immediately as Stage 1 winner Kimberley Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal Team). The Mauritian champion, though, managed to get back on her bike and rejoin the race without any issues.

With the conditions shaking things up, the first attack came not too long into the stage as the three Conti teams launched a move to show up their WorldTour compatriots. Tiffany Keep (DAS – Hutchinson), Maddie Leech (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) and Lucy Gadd (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team) to form the first break – one you might well see in the National Road Series.

It was an attack with teeth. Through Redmarshall with 90km to go, the trio had opened up a gap of more than 90 seconds as they powered away from a peloton without much interest in chasing them down. Indeed, 10km from the first sprint, the gap widened to three minutes – prompting the pack to finally start winding up their pace.

That sprint looked like it was going the way of Gadd, but Keep countered and launched a great attack to take the ten bonus points with Gadd settling for second. As they attacked, Leech was slipping back – she took third at the Sprint but fell into the clutches of the peloton once again with 35km left to race.

As the first Queen of the Mountain climb at Marske Lane approached, Gadd & Keep’s advantage was trimmed down to a minute. From there, things diverged as Keep attacked to claim maximum points, while Gadd was caught by the chasing pack behind – Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) took second.

With less than 30km from the finish, the race finally came back together as Keep was absorbed into the peloton behind.

That caused the next major flashpoint. A number of Lidl-Trek riders pushed to the front and tried to draw the peloton into a move with an injection of pace, but a number of riders – including Anna Morris (GB Cycling Team) and pre-Tour favourite Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime) hit the asphalt. With several riders held up, Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) took the initiative to launch what was ultimately a doomed move to break clear.

As Saltburn Bank loomed into view, the peloton fractured on the run to the intermediate sprint on top of the Bank. Cat Ferguson, wearing the Young Rider jersey for Movistar Team, joined up with Faulkner to attack for the bonus points along with Henderson.

Faulkner took the maximum points as she crossed the line for the first time, building up a solid lead in the GC too as Le Court was a minute behind the front group.

With 15km to go, and the second QoM pass almost complete, the first seeds of what was to come were being planted as Team Picnic PostNL started to mass at the front and Roldan scored the 10 Mountain points as she attacked from the front – a move shut down by Riejanne Markus (Team Visma – LeaseABike). The Canadian was deterred though, and launched again as they approach Saltburn Bank for the final time.

With no one able to chase, Roldan crossed the line alone to take her first Women’s WorldTour win. Markus was 12 seconds behind, while FDJ-Suez’s Ally Wollaston rounded out the podium.

The second stage has shaken up the competitions, with Faulkner heading the GC from Markus by four seconds, as well as leading the Points and QoM standings. Ferguson maintains her lead in the Young Rider classification as she moved to fourth in the GC – two seconds behind Wollaston.

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