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Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) got here oh so near successful stage 6 and presumably even the overall classification on the Simac Women Tour with a 39-kilometre solo breakaway, however in a dramatic finale, the 23-year-old was caught on the road by world champion and eventual winner Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime).
In the long run, Smulders completed fourth on the day and seventh within the last GC, 23 seconds behind Kopecky.
“I’m actually pleased with my effort and of the staff. We needed to make it arduous and go for it, that’s the means we wish to race. I’m tremendous pleased with my effort and I feel I used to be tremendous sturdy. I virtually made it, so I’m actually proud of that,” Smulders mentioned after the end, having been caught inside metres of the end line and inserting fourth, simply exterior the time bonifications.
Smulders began the sixth and last stage in seventh general, 21 seconds behind in a single day chief Franziska Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL). She had attacked on the third of seven ending laps à 8.1km – and like virtually everyone who finally ends up on the entrance of a race on their very own, Smulders hadn’t deliberate for a solo.
“I used to be considering, ‘please, somebody be a part of’ and ‘what did I begin’, however whenever you’re in it, there’s no means again. I used to be like, ‘Okay, I simply go as arduous as potential to the end, and I’ll see the place it ends’,” she defined.
Smulders joined Lotto-Soudal for 2021, then moved to Liv Racing the next yr. The staff was merged with GreenEdge’s girls’s staff for 2024, changing into Liv-AlUla-Jayco, and Smulders carried out persistently all through the season, a.o. ending twenty first within the Vuelta Femenina, fifteenth within the Vuelta a Burgos, second within the Vuelta a Andalucía the place she gained the opening stage, thirteenth within the Giro d’Italia Ladies, twenty first within the Tour de France Femmes, sixteenth within the Traditional Lorient Agglomération, and twenty fifth within the Tour de Romandie.
She carried the boldness coming from these outcomes into the Simac Women Tour the place she positioned fifth within the stage 1 time trial earlier than going all-in on the final day. Smulders even held the digital GC lead into the ultimate lap and was lower than 20 metres from taking a stand-out victory.
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“For a very long time, it was 30 seconds, 40 seconds, and ultimately, I assumed that I might make it once I received by means of the ultimate nook. They caught me on the road, that was shit, however I really didn’t suppose that I might come to this point once I began it.”
Regardless of narrowly lacking out on the stage win, Smulders received a visit to the rostrum as she was awarded the combativity prize and the accompanying crimson jersey, and he or she might rejoice together with her teammate Jeanne Korevaar who gained the QOM classification, having worn the polka-dot jersey since stage 2.
“Since I received the QOM jersey it turned a aim to maintain it, and it felt actually particular that the women needed to assist me with it. It’s a prize for the entire staff, we rode actually aggressively, and we will be proud. In fact, we wished for Silke to have gained immediately, but it surely was so shut. We’re all extremely pleased with her,” mentioned Korevaar.
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