It was down to the wire in an exciting finish of Stage 2 at the Lotto Belgium Tour today in Herselt, Belgium. The break of the day with Barbara Guarischi representing CANYON//SRAM Racing was caught with less than 300m to go. The 106km penultimate stage was won by Jolien d’Hoore (WHT), regaining the leaders jersey from Marianne Vos (WM3) who was second on the stage. Tiffany Cromwell finished 9th for CANYON//SRAM Racing.

After Tuesday’s opening prologue in Nieuwpoort where Tiffany Cromwell was 8th, the team was out of contention for the win on yesterday’s Stage 1 when it missed a late 13-rider break that went on to fight for the win. Determined to make amends, the team looked for an early break opportunity on today’s undulating stage.

“We wanted to be in the breakaway today and to go for the stage win,” said Guarischi after the stage. “I was feeling good and I tried to go a few times at the start. I kept searching and eventually this was the one that stayed away,” said Guarischi.

“All four of us in the break were working together and we had a lead almost of two minutes at one point. The gap started to come down and in the final 12km lap it was really close so I wasn’t sure we could stay away but I spoke with Lotte (Kopecky) and we were committed to riding full gas until the end to make it. Vos was the first to past us with just 200m or so to go.”

“It’s disappointing but that’s bike racing. Everyone wants to win and if you don’t try you never know what can happen. We will be trying everything for the last stage tomorrow,” added Guarischi.

The final 114km stage tomorrow around Geraardsbergen starts at 12:30 CEST. A live stream can be found here or followed on Twitter with #LottoBelgiumTour.

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