Mara Roldan claims solo victory on tough stage 2 at Lloyds Tour of Britain Women

Beginning in a gloomy Hartlepool, the peloton was littered with black rain jackets, making it difficult to establish who was who early on. The weather played its part in the race relatively early on as there was a nasty crash with 111km remaining, which included the race leader Kim Le Court (AG Insurance - Soudal). The Mauritius champion looked to be in quite a bit of discomfort, but Le Court managed to pick herself off the ground and, with the help of her teammates, returned to the peloton. The Olympic champion, and 2nd place rider on GC, Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) was held up by the crash, but the American didn't hit the deck. 

Fortunately for the riders, the weather did pick up shortly afterwards as the sun began to break through the grey clouds, lighting up the peloton, although the roads were still quite damp initially. In the meantime, with around 100km to go, the breakaway of three riders built up a gap over the peloton and worked together nicely. South African rider Tiffany Keep (DAS-Hutchinson) was the first rider to attack from the peloton and was shortly joined by two British riders in the form of Madelaine Leech (Handsling Alba Development Road Team), and Lucy Gadd (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team).

Beyond a bike change for Madelaine Leech in the breakaway, the race calmed and settled into a steady rhythm until the intermediate sprint in Guisborough with around 40 kilometres remaining, where Keep launched a strong and well-timed sprint, distancing her breakaway companions to take maximum points. This marked the end of Leech's time in the breakaway as the gap between the 22-year-old and her two companions ballooned. 

Things began to spice up in the peloton as the pace increased heading towards the finishing circuit. Jade Wiel (FDJ-SUEZ) and Marta Lach (SD Worx-Protime) were two riders who were active at the front of the peloton on an uncategorised ramp but were unable to break free from the peloton.

On the lower slopes of the first ascent of Marske Lane (0.6km at 8.7%), Tiffany Keep distanced Lucy Gadd, illustrating that the South African was on an excellent day as she claimed maximum points at the summit. Behind in the peloton, Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) pipped Gadd to second on the line. The Dutch rider was wearing the blue jersey on behalf of race leader Kim Le Court, but has set herself up nicely to be a bona fide contender for the mountains classification at this Tour of Britain. 

Beyond the first ascent of Marske Lane, there were attacks by the likes of Amber Pate (Liv AlUla Jayco), Anna Henderson and Loretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) among others, but due to the extremely high pace, nobody was able to gain distance over the peloton. Eventually, Anna Henderson and Megan Jastrab (Picnic PostNL) were able to pull open a small advantage on the peloton on another uncategorised climb. It was around this point where there was another significant crash in the peloton, and this time it was the European champion, Lorena Wiebes, who came down. This saw some splits created with the peloton as the duo were caught on a fast downhill section with around 25 kilometres remaining. 

The strongest riders who were caught up in the splits were able to return to the peloton, but it would come at a cost for most. Key riders, including Le Court and Wiebes, were not in the reduced front group with around 20 kilometres remaining. Lizzie Deignan was the next rider to fire herself off the front, as Lidl-Trek continued to be the most active team at the front of the race.

Deignan launched from the bottom of Saltburn Bank with Cat Ferguson (Movistar) primed on her wheel, and the Movistar rider was also the first to react when Olympic champion Faulkner made her move near the summit. Faulkner was the first to crest the summit and took three bonus seconds, whilst Ferguson took 2 and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) took one.

Behind, the group featuring the race leader, Le Court, as well as Zoë Backstedt (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), were almost a minute behind at the summit of Saltburn Bank.

On the final lap, it was Picnic PostNL who took control of the front group, with Lidl-Trek and FDJ-SUEZ also having strength in numbers.

This was in anticipation of the 21-year-old Canadian Roldan, who launched an explosive attack on the final ascent of Marske Lane. Roldan was first over the summit and behind in the group. Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) crested Markse Lane in second, whilst Faulkner was third.

Up and down the rolling country lanes, Roldan continued to press on and she had Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) in pursuit after the Dutchwoman broke clear of the peloton. Behind, panic began to set in as Roldan’s gap was becoming significant, at over 20 seconds. Throughout the run-in to Saltburn Bank, it was clear to see the pain and effort that Roldan was suffering as she was rocking and rolling on the bike. However, the Canadian persisted with her effort, and the race situation looked increasingly positive for Roldan and Picnic PostNL.

Onto the final ascent of Saltburn Bank, and Roldan emptied the tank on the steep slopes, which reached ramps up to 15%. It became clear very quickly that the gap was more than sufficient and that Roldan would take her first WorldTour victory at 21 years of age. Behind, Riejanne Markus held onto second, finishing 12 seconds behind, and Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ) won the sprint from the main group to take third on the stage. Jastrab, Ferguson, Swinkels, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (CANYON/SRAM zondacrypto), Sarah Van Dam (CERATIZIT), and Faulkner finished on the same time as Wollaston, at 18 seconds behind Roldan

A gutsy ride from Roldan, who left it all out on the road and attacked when most wouldn’t have expected it, and it certainly paid off for the Canadian and the Dutch team. Due to the time lost on the opening stage, Roldan didn't take the race lead, as the leader's green jersey was passed over to Kristen Faulkner. Faulkner now leads the Lloyds Tour of Britain by four seconds over Markus and Wollaston.