The first stage of the Simac Ladies Tour was mostly flat, but by no means an easy day. The threat of crosswinds made the peloton nervous, causing several crashes and seven riders to abandon the race.

The biggest crash, 80km from the finish, split the race and only 21 riders were able to extend their advantage out of the crosswind, giving Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) the first stage win. The pack panicked a bit and there was a big crash on the next wind section." Tenniel (Campbell) and Jessica (Allen) crashed and I think I was one of the first through. Luckily, everyone on the team was okay, but we were split up because of that crash," Ruby Roseman-Gannon of Team Bike Exchange Jayco said of the incident. We were all in the same boat," said Ruby Roseman-Gannon of Team Bike Exchange-Jayco. Among those hardest hit by the group crash were 2019 overall winner Christine Majerus (Team SD Works), Femke Marx (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Shari Bossuit (Canyon-SRAM), Leah Stern ( Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad), all four of whom abandoned the race.

Bossuit was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a concussion. Markus had a broken tooth and needed dental work. Her sister, Dutch champion Riejanne Marx (Team Jumbo Visma), also fell in the crash, but was able to continue racing.

Already, Colin Labecki (Team Jumbo-Visma), Rotem Gafinowitz (Roland Kogeas Edelweiss Squad) and Anna Trevisi (UAE Team ADQ) have abandoned the race due to crashes.

The split due to the crash is also important for the overall classification, as the peloton lost 49 seconds from the lead group, which could be a decisive time difference over the six stages of the Dutch race.

During this stage, several teams debated whether Vives' Team DSM should even continue on, including Pfeiffer Georgi, who was in the second group.

Trek-Segafredo had no such qualms, as four of the five riders were in the lead group, and when Chloe Hosking dropped back with a puncture, the decision was made to maximize Audrey Cordón-Lago's time gap.

"At that point, I decided that going for GC would be a good option for me and the team, given the next stage and TT. I worked hard to keep the gap to the rest of the peloton as large as possible." Elinor Beckstedt and Lauretta Hansson worked very hard! In the sprint, I did my best to get the time bonus," the French road race champion recalled of the final.

Cordon Rago is now third overall, five seconds behind Vives in the yellow jersey and three seconds behind Carline Swinkels (Team Jumbo-Visma). She is the French time trial champion and is one of the favorites to win the overall, having finished fourth in the European ITT championships this month. However, Swinkels and her teammates Anna Henderson, Jeanne Kolevar of Liv Racing Axtra, and Ronneke Uneken (Team SD Walks) will give her a tough fight.