Team DSM is a squad that values teamwork very highly, and after Lorena Wiebes easily won the first two stages of the Simac Ladies Tour, they had a surprise up their sleeves.
Wiebes is the fastest pure sprinter in the women’s peloton and currently the overall race leader, but she showed her selflessness – and that she enjoys teamwork as much as winning – when she moved into a lead-out role to support her teammate Charlotte Kool to the stage 3 win.
It is one of her final races with Team DSM before transferring to rival squad SD Worx in 2023.
“We had a very nice season together, and I think it is a nice step for Charlotte to sprint next year,” said Wiebes who was happy to be able to give back to Kool, who has been her primary lead-out, in one of their last races on the same team.
Wiebes joined Team DSM, as Team Sunweb, partway through the 2020 season. This year alone she has secured 20 victories and Kool has been a big part of that success as a member of her lead-out train.
In was revealed during the Tour de France Femmes in July that Wiebes would break her contract with Team DSM, using a ‘better offer’ clause, and join SD Worx beginning in 2023 through 2025.
As of next year, Wiebes and Kool will face each other in the sprints as competitors, as Kool will then step up to become Team DSM’s main sprinter.
Role reversal
Wiebes has already won the two opening stages at the Simac Ladies Tour and leads the overall classification. Instead of Wiebes being delivered to another victory by her Kool, the two riders switched roles for stage 3, and Kool went on to secure her first Women’s WorldTour victory. Wiebes had enough speed to finish second, giving Team DSM a 1-2 finish in Gennep.
“Well, if you look at the sprint train we had and Lorena leading me out in the sprint, it really should work out, and it is great that we could do this again and have it work out,” said Kool after the stage.
The team had tried the same tactic earlier in the season, planning to have Wiebes lead Kool on the final stage 6 of the Women’s Tour in June after Wiebes had won stage 2 and 3. However, an attack by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) at the flamme rouge opened gaps in the peloton, and Kool and Wiebes lost each other on a chaotic final kilometre. Wiebes went on to sprint herself and won the stage into Oxford.
Kool was also given the chance to sprint at the Giro d’Italia Donne where she reached the podium three times. On stage 2, Kool finished third behind World Champion…
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