The course was flat with a short power climb near to the finish, the race consisted of eight laps of 15 kilometres.

Without any major climbs to make the difference, Lauren and her young French team, including four girls younger than 21, decided to ride hard as team mid race in a short section of the course with cross wind.

This forced a selection and the team were represented with five girls in a group of nine, a very good situation for the team to play a tactical final.

With the goal to win the race alone, Kitchen and her teammates began attacking the break away in the final 20 kilometres of the race.

Unfortunately, Kitchen ended up in a small group of three riders with a very strong Gladys Vurhulst from Charente-Maritime Cycling team and Brazilian climber Flavia Olivera.

The final breakaway arrived at the finish just before the bunch, where she took second in the sprint.

"I'm a bit disappointed, the team rode such a great race today, we really made the race and set it up well," Kitchen said.

"I just couldn't finish it off and that's disappointing, however less then a week ago I had to pull out of the ladies Tour of Norway after not recovering from my crash in Sweden 10 days ago.

"I'm really happy to see the form has returned and I can be confident for the final part of the season now leading into the world championships."

Kitchen admitted "while it isn't the biggest race on the calendar", it was satisfying to be back on a UCI podium.

"It's been a solid season - but without a big result - so this just gives me confidence that we are working in the right direction for the world's."

The Port Macquarie cyclist's team also picked up the win in the teams classification to top off a nearly perfect day.

"While it wasn't the win we were after, I think we can be proud of this second place," Kitchen said.

"We did a great race as a team and if we keep racing like this then big results will keep coming."

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