Lorena Wiebes sprints to second straight win at Women’s Tour de France

GENEVA (AP) — Lorena Wiebes again sprinted to victory in the second stage of the Women’s Tour de France on Sunday.

The Dutch rider won the flat 147.9-kilometer (91.9-mile) stage from Aigle to Geneva, the second on Swiss territory, in 3 hours, 42 minutes, 8 seconds.

Wiebes went ahead with some 250 meters to go and claimed her seventh overall victory at the tour.

Wiebes also won the opening stage on Saturday in the same dominant fashion.

“It’s special to win in the yellow jersey, but also because again, my team SD Worx-Protime, worked really hard for this,” Wiebes said. “The girls were chasing full gas in the final to bring back Riejanne Markus. That makes it even more beautiful to finish it off.”

Markus was in a solo breakaway for almost 40 kilometers (25 miles) and was caught about 500 meters (yards) before the finish.

Lidl-Trek rider Elisa Balsamo finished second and Marianne Vos of Team Visma-Lease a Bike was third.

Wiebes leads Kim Le Court Pienaar by 14 seconds overall, with the 2023 Tour champion Demi Vollering another two seconds back in third.

Monday’s 156.5-kilometer (97.2-mile) hilly stage starts in Geneva before the riders cross the border to France to finish in Poligny.

This edition of the race, the fifth of the Women’s Tour, covers 1,175 kilometers (730 miles) over nine days.

Tadej Pogacar won his fifth men’s Tour de France title last weekend.

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