It was a case of bad timing for Kasia Niewiadoma on the opening stage of the LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour today in Jena. Kasia was in a strong five-rider group chasing two leaders in the closing 25 kilometres of racing. The two leaders had passed a level railway crossing before Kasia and her breakaway companions were stopped. The stop meant the peloton caught Kasia’s group and eventually would sprint for third place, with the two leaders around 2:30 minutes ahead. Tiffany Cromwell was the team’s best-placed rider in 11th.

RIDER REACTIONS

Tiffany Cromwell: “Today’s stage was strange in how it ended. All our hard work to set it up for Kasia on the last climb went to waste with the train stop. She had made a powerful attack and made a small bunch, which was an excellent opportunity for a potentially nice result. And they were close to getting the break back. After that, it was strange in the bunch. The two riders ahead could keep going, and all the other groups came back together. We still tried to practice the sprint in the final. But when nobody knew what was happening and there were no time gaps, you could feel that in the bunch. It motivates us to make a hard race on stage two tomorrow.”

HOW TO FOLLOW

The race can be followed on X with #LTLT24, #LTLT2024 and a broadcast on Eurosport and MDR.

Stage 2 | Gera – Gera | 119.2km | Start 12:30CEST | Broadcast 14:00CEST

Stage 3 | Erfurt – Erfurt | 144.8km | Start 11:40CEST Broadcast 14:00CEST

Stage 4 | Mülhausen – Mülhausen | 111.4km | Start 12:45CEST | Broadcast 14:00CEST

Stage 5 ITT | Altenburg – Altenburg | 31.5km | First rider 13:45CEST | Broadcast 15:00CEST

Stage 6 | Schmalkalden – Schmalkalden | 105.4km | Start 12:50CEST | Broadcast 14:00CEST

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