Ladies Tour of Norway (st. 2)

Impressive outing by French champion in windy, rainy course, sprinting against world's best to become 6th in Norway GC.

Aude Biannic (Movistar Team) was coming in great form to the 2018 Ladies Tour of Norway, and Saturday’s action saw the rouleur from Brittany showing her quality during stage two -127km under gusty winds of storm, from Fredrikstad to Sarpsborg-, racing toe-to-toe with the best competitors in the WorldTour in one of the hardest scenarios of the season.

It was quite together until the last four local laps, with Neylan, Oyarbide and González covering the three Blues finishing inside the main peloton yesterday -García, Jasinska and Biannic-, and full of attacks into the decisive loop. Alicia González had to work hard to bring back a dangerous move with two laps to go, after which Jasinska and Biannic joined a flurry of moves THAT, combined with Canyon-SRAM’s intense pace on the last lap, made for a stretched out peloton before the sprint.

As Mavi and ‘Jasi’ -16th and 17th in the stage, respectively- went to the second half of the group, Aude kept the front and completed an outstanding leading effort for Jorge Sanz’s group, 5th in the stage -behind back-to-back winner Marianne Vos (WAD)- and climbing up to sixth overall, just over half a minute behind the Dutchwoman. A coveted result for Aude before Sunday’s decisive, marathon stage three, no less than 154km, from Svinesund to Halden.

Picture (c): Sean Robinson / Vélofocus