Alice Barnes sprinted to third place on today’s second stage at Bloeizone Fryslan tour in the Netherlands. After typical Dutch racing conditions of winds and narrow roads, the peloton caught the final breakaway rider in the last kilometres. The stage was won by Lonneke Uneken (SDW).

“The stage was good,” said Barnes after the finish.

“We had two aims today: a stage win and keep Shari in the young rider jersey. We raced well with a strong team presence. The first intermediate sprint went well with Shari taking the full points and I took second. The second intermediate sprint didn’t go so well for us as we were boxed in.”

Barnes continued, “I’m happy with my race and result. Especially because I took control and made it very clear what I needed from the team. Ideally, we had Lisa in the final corner but it was tough for her to get there with the headwind. I made a mistake with my line through the last corner which cost me some speed. I lacked a little bit of acceleration speed also but otherwise, I’m pleased with my confident role today. Having Shari as the last lead-out person actually ended up being a good thing because she was ahead of the split and she also took another five seconds in the young rider classification. So, overall a good day for the team.”

With her third place, Alice moves up one position on the general classification to fifth, 52 seconds behind leader Ellen van Dijk (TFS). Lisa Klein is sixth, Sarah Roy eighth and Shari Bossuyt moves into the top ten. Shari also keeps the young rider jersey with one stage remaining.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Stage 3 | Saturday 5 March | 137km | Drachten – Drachten | 09:45 – 13:00CET | Broadcast 11:30-13:15CET on GCN, Eurosport and Omrop Fryslan. Follow it on Twitter with #BFT22.

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