Determined Markus attacks in third stage of Women's Tour, Labecki sprints to third place
Coryn Labecki has sprinted to third place in the third stage of the Women's Tour. In the wet streets of Gloucester, the American leading lady of Team Jumbo-Visma was beaten by Lorena Wiebes, who took her second stage victory in a row. Riejanne Markus showed herself by going on the attack almost the entire day.
Early in the hilly third stage, Markus decided to attack alone. The time trialist quickly built up a minute's lead, but the peloton maintained a firm pace. On the short, steep hills in England, Markus held her own and two other riders joined her halfway through the race.
On the steep foothills of the Speech House climb, Markus was caught by the depleted peloton that included Labecki. The cooperation in the group was not optimal, which allowed the chasers, including Romy Kasper and Karlijn Swinkels, to return.
"I think we rode very strong as a team today."
Markus, voted the day's most combative rider, was satisfied with her performance. "We had a lot of bad luck the first two days and we felt terrible about that. I also had my share of bad luck and was ready for some better results. Before this stage, we said that we really wanted to go for it and race freely. It's nice that Coryn could still finish third in the sprint after I was caught. We deserved that. I think we rode very strong as a team today."