Ashley Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv), who suffered mechanical problems in the prologue and was eliminated early from contention for the overall Boels Ladies Tour, will likely turn her attention to both the mountain and sprint classes, which she leads.

Flat stage races are not the best terrain for South African climbers. However, race organizers have decided to award mountain points for crossing the finish line with 25km to go in order to award the polka-dot jersey. A few kilometers earlier, Mourman-Pasio had suddenly opened a small gap on the rest of the field.

"I had heard from my teammates that the local laps were going to be technical, and I had a feeling that the peloton was going to be pretty crazy," the 33-year-old Mourman-Pasio told Cycling News.

"As I approached the corner, I accelerated and tried to go around the corner, but nobody was following me. So I thought, 'Okay, let's give it a go. I wasn't really thinking about going for the mountains or sprint points, I just instinctively hit the gas pedal at that moment."

Mourman-Pasio suffered mechanical problems in the prologue the day before and had to come off his bike on a short but steep climb that was part of the course, losing valuable time. He finished 33 seconds behind stage winner Annemiek van Fruten (Mitchelton-Scott), making his GC finish virtually hopeless.

"I had nothing to lose. This race was good training for me because it was also preparation for the World Championships and the individual time trial."

"I felt very strong and my form was good. I knew it would be hard to get away from the sprinters to the finish because they would be looking to sprint."

Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) chased Mourman Passio with 21.5km to go.

"When I heard Lizzie was in the middle, part of me wanted to join her. But I also knew that if I got out of my seat or took my foot off the pedal, the peloton would get more motivation to chase," Mourman Pacio said. [In a way, it wasn't good for me that Lizzie tried to cross. But I kept my head down and worked on my good training. As a result, I got two jerseys, a podium time, and a TV appearance for the team.

The South African road race champion was caught up in the peloton on the final lap, resulting in a sprint finish. Before that, however, she earned mountain points and a bonus sprint for crossing the finish line three times, earning her a three-second time bonus, the polka-dot mountain jersey, and the blue intermediate sprint jersey.

"I don't know yet if I will go for the jersey or not. We'll discuss our ambitions at tomorrow's team meeting. But we don't have many chances to go for the GC. Either way, I'm enjoying racing here and I'm happy with the way I raced today."