On a hilly stage four of the Simac Ladies Tour, Soraya Paladin proved she’s one of the top GC contenders when she had another strong ride. Soraya was always well-positioned by her teammates, and although her several attacks didn’t create a winning move, they did help reduce the front group to just twenty riders. Riejanne Markus (JVW) won the stage solo, Soraya sprinted to 8th place and moves up two places overall to 6th.

“I was expecting and hoping for more attacks, to be honest,” said Soraya.

“After Ashleigh Moolman crashed, only Amanda Spratt and I were trying to do something. The lap was quite dangerous and luckily my teammates protected me well. They led me into the climbs in a good position. Especially Alice was amazing before the final Cauberg.”

“On the last climb when I saw the gap, I looked at which riders were around me. Unfortunately, Markus was not there because I knew the breakaway had more chance to arrive if she was. I kept riding but the group caught us again. Jumbo had 4 riders and they played the numbers game really well. I can be happy about my position overall but honestly, today I was looking for more,” said Soraya.

Soraya is now 6th in GC at +33 seconds behind leader Lorena Wiebes. Tomorrow is ITT day!

HOW TO FOLLOW

The Simac Ladies Tour can be followed on Twitter with #SLT2022 and is broadcast on Limburg 1 TV and Ziggo Sport.

Stage 5 | Saturday 3 September | 17.8km ITT | Sittard – Beekdaalen | First rider 11:45CEST | Broadcast 11:45CEST

Stage 6 | Sunday 4 September | 150.3km | Arnhem | Race start 10:00CEST | Broadcast 11:45CEST

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