One day after Nienke Veenhoven’s first professional victory, there were two stages on the program for the riders of Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Saturday morning saw an 87-kilometer stage around Maldegem, followed by an individual time trial in the Belgian town later in the day.

In Stage 3a, the team showed up with good intentions. The Dutch formation were sharp and created splits in the peloton through strong riding at the front. With a reduced group remaining, another sprint opportunity for Veenhoven looked likely - until Zoe Bäckstedt launched a well-timed attack. The 20-year-old rider managed to hold off the chasers and took the stage win with a narrow margin.

“We executed our plan to perfection”, sports director Robby Cobbaert says. “We outnumbered other teams in the front group. With two kilometers to go, attacks came from all sides, and we weren’t able to set up the sprint. Unfortunately, we couldn’t recover from that. Still, I’m very positive about how well our race plan worked. I can also be satisfied with the time trial."

Vigié had already shown her time trial abilities in the prologue, and the 29-year-old French rider showed her form again on Saturday evening in Stage 3b. She rode to the sixth-fastest time and now sits in fourth place in the general classification. Cobbaert: “That’s a very impressive ride from Margaux and offers opportunities going into tomorrow’s stage.”

Indeed, Sunday awaits the final stage in Belgium. “There’s a good chance it will end in a bunch sprint. We’ve already achieved our goal of a stage win, but we will go for another tomorrow. On top of that, Margaux is just two seconds from the overall podium. That’s going to make for an exciting finale”, Cobbaert predicts.