Charlotte Kool sprints 2nd at Tour of Britain, as Rachele Barbieri makes it a double Top 5

After two hilly days at the Tour of Britain Women, today’s third stage was definitely one for the sprinters. While a few riders tried to form a breakaway, none of the moves gained a significant advantage over the peloton, as they were kept close by the sprint teams. The riders of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL were riding well together in the peloton and looked after Charlotte Kool, the designated finisher for today’s stage.

The easy day in the peloton was overshadowed by a big crash where Daniek Hengeveld went down hard and had to abandon the race. Our riders had to reshuffle their plans for the sprint a little bit as she would have played an important role in the lead-out. When the final rider from the breakaway was caught, the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL train did a nice job of staying in position and navigating the hectic final in a good way. Rachele Barbieri dropped Charlotte in the perfect spot where she could launch her sprint and powered to second place. Rachele also didn’t stop sprinting and crossed the line in fourth place, making it a double top-five for the team after some good teamwork throughout the day.

After the stage Kool said: “Today was an easy day, and nothing special happened until Daniek had a really nasty crash. We all saw it happen, so we were all a bit in shock afterward. We refocused for the final and gave it our all for today’s sprint. The team did amazing; I just made a small mistake. In the end, I came in second again, but I can feel that a win is coming soon.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Kelvin Dekker added: “Today, our clear goal was to go for a sprint with Charlotte. We are really sad that we lost Daniek during the day due to a crash, which definitely impacted the team and our plans for the lead-out. Although not everything went perfectly in the lead-out, Charlotte was where she needed to be. She did a good sprint and ended up second.”