After crash Wiebes, Roldan (Picnic PostNL) secures biggest win of her career at Tour of Britain

The organizers planned a 114.3-kilometer stage for the second day between Hartlepool and Saltburn-by-the-Sea. This made the ride about 30 kilometers longer than the previous day, and with rain at the start, the riders were in for a tough day.

In the first kilometer, things went wrong for Lecourt Pienaar, the stage one winner and overall leader. The rider from Mauritius crashed very quickly after the neutralization and appeared to be in pain. It was unclear whether she would be able to continue, but Lecourt Pienaar got back on her bike moments later.

South African Tiffany Keep was the first rider to secure a place in the early breakaway, after which she was joined by home riders Madelaine Leech and Lucy Gadd. They gained a maximum lead of three minutes. However, that lead quickly evaporated in the run-up to the final, at the insistence of EF Education-Oatly, who increased the pace in the peloton.

After all the breakaway riders had been caught, Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) attacked with 27 kilometers to go. At that exact moment, we suddenly saw Wiebes standing on the side of the road, picking her bike out of the bushes. The Dutch rider from SD Worx-Protime had crashed and saw her chances of winning the stage slip away.

However, the now considerably smaller peloton was anything but passive, and so it suddenly became a very entertaining final. In addition to Wiebes, Lecourt Pienaar was not in the first group of about twenty riders, whose pace remained relentlessly high. This was in contrast to the chasing group, where there was no cooperation. Unfortunately, Lecourt Pienaar had no teammates left there, so it was up to her to close the gap.

Picnic PostNL was well represented in the first group with five riders and came to the front with three women 15 kilometers from the finish. That turned out to be the setup for an attack by Roldan. The Canadian in Dutch service immediately opened up a considerable gap on the penultimate climb, the 600-meter climb to Marske Lane with an average gradient of 8.7%. The question was: who would lead the chase behind the number ten in the Amstel Gold Race, where Picnic PostNL had four of the approximately fifteen riders?

Riejanne Markus certainly gave it a try. The Dutch rider from Lidl-Trek accelerated and wanted to ride solo to Roldan. She quickly spotted the leader, but she remained about ten seconds behind for a long time. With the last 800 meters to go, which were going to be a vicious climb, it was still unclear whether the Canadian would make it.

The answer was yes. With a phenomenal effort, the Canadian held on to a spectacular finish. Roldan thus secured the biggest victory of her career. Markus finished second behind her, while Lecourt Pienaar lost her leader's jersey.