Ladies Another victory: Thalita de Jong wins final stage AG Tour de la Semois

Thalita de Jong is far from feeling the effects of the season winding down. As she puts it herself, she’s "on a roll," even with the season’s end in sight. After finishing 6th yesterday and securing the KOM jersey, today she clinches victory in the AG Tour de la Semois. "And actually, almost the overall win as well, since the winner, Karlijn Swinkels, and I finished with the same time... she just placed 3rd in the first stage while I was only 6th, so I have to give her the yellow jersey," says a very happy Thalita de Jong, celebrating her 4th victory of the season.

The 2nd and final stage of the AG Tour de la Semois started and finished in Bertrix. "We were able to stay in control the whole time. I stayed close to the other GC riders, competed for the first mountain points to make sure I had the mountain jersey secured, and when a big group broke away at one point, Esmée (Gielkens), Audrey (De Keersmaeker), and Anna (Van Wersch) slipped in with them," recounts de Jong. "Arkéa had to chase hard because they didn’t have anyone in the break, so I could just take it 'easy'. Thanks to their effort, everything came back together."

After the regrouping, another group of seven riders broke away. "Audrey was there again, and for a long time I thought they might hold on until the finish, but in the final local lap, the break started to split, and most of them were caught. Only two riders stayed ahead, and with 500 meters to go, I went all out. I had the two leaders in sight, which gave me a nice target. I sat down briefly but knew I had to keep pushing to win. And so, I take a very beautiful victory here."

Thalita de Jong not only wins the final stage of the two-day AG Tour de la Semois, but she also takes home the mountain jersey. Anna Van Wersch secures the sprints jersey.

Picture: Alexis Dancerelle