Rivera wins OVO Women’s Tour stage 2, takes GC lead

Following up a strong third-place result in the opening stage, American Coryn Rivera (Sunweb) sprinted to victory in stage 2 of the OVO Women’s Tour Thursday, taking the overall race lead.

To win the 145km run to Daventry, England, Rivera had to out-sprint Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Marianne Vos (WaowDeals).

With a perfectly timed bike throw, Rivera nipped Vos at the finish, coming up the inside as the road curved left to the line.

Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) was third to Vos.

“It was a super hard day on the road here. It was a more challenging stage with some climbs and a lot of wind which meant some extra resistance,” Rivera said. “A lot can happen in this kind of final but we had all of the girls there in the last lap and we did a great lead out until the final climb.”

Floortje Mackaij led out Rivera into the final climb, positioning her to bridge up to the lead group with 2.5km to go in the local circuit.

Another Sunweb teammate, Ellen van Dijk was waiting in that select front group to string out the race into the finish.

“In the final, the girls positioned Coryn super good and when the front group went clear, Ellen could follow,” Sunweb coach Hans Timmermans said. “Coryn bridged across on the final climb with two and a half to go and from there it was full-gas towards the finish line to gain some time.”

Thanks to time bonuses, Rivera is 15 seconds ahead in the overall with Vos’s British teammate Danielle Rowe second. Vos is third on GC, 16 seconds down.

Defending champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) sits in 32nd, 17 seconds back.

The 25-year-old will have to defend her lead over two categorized climbs in Friday’s stage 3 as the five-day race takes on a 151km route to Royal Leamington Spa.