Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda) won the 12th edition of the women’s Tour of Flanders today.
Longo Borghini soloed to victory in the most ruthless race of the Women’s calendar, third round of the UCI Women Road World Cup. She won with a one minute advantage ahead of teammate Jolien D’hoore and Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Cycling Team).
It’s another fantastic day for the Wiggle Honda Team with D’hoore moving back into the overall lead of the UCI Women Road World Cup.
Annamiek van Vleuten (Bigla Pro Cycling Team) wins the Suffer Prize, presented by the Sufferfest: "I suffered and recovered. And suffered again!”
It was a chilly morning in Oudenaarde for the third round of the 2015 UCI Women Road World Cup. 152 riders took the start of this 144.9-km race covering a total of ten climbs and five separate stretches of cobbles.
The race was off to a cagey start. With no real difficulty in the first 49-km, the average speed was high. Orica AIS was pushing the pace ahead of the first difficulty of the day. An unfortunate puncture forced current UCI Women Road World Cup leader Lizzie Armitstead to chase back over the Wolvenberg climb, an early effort that could have best been avoided.
Sofie de Vuyst (Lensworld.eu-Zannata) initiated the first attack of the day 80-km into the race, as the bunch tackled the Haaghoek. She was soon reeled in before Roxane Knetermann (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) had a go at her own escape. She was caught on the 950-metre long Leberg.
Attacks after attacks saw a group of five riders escape: Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team), Lucinda Brand (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team), Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda), Barbara Guarischi (Velocio-Sram) and Andrea Dvorak (Twenty 16 p/b Sho-Air). The group lead over the Hostellerie climb but was caught on the Valkenberg.
Several team tried to send riders out the front, putting pressure on the rear of the peloton. This resulted in more riders getting dropped. With only 50-km to the finish, things were getting serious.
Nine riders attempted to escape: Ellen van Dijk (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team), Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team), Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda), Mayuko Hagiwara (Wiggle Honda), Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-Sram), Gracie Elvin (Orica AIS) and Annemiek Van Vleuten (Bigla Pro Cycling Team).
With a peloton refusing to let any attacks get away, they were reeled in at the start of the Kaperij climb.
It’s the moment Anna Annamiek Van Vleuten (Bigla Pro Cycling Team) chose to try her luck once more, in vain. Her perseverance won her today’s Suffer Prize, presented by the Sufferfest.
With 35 km to go on the Kanarieberg, Italian Longo Borghini pounced out of the bunch, with Trixi Worrack (Velocio Sram) on her wheel. The Italian looked to have gone too early. She lead on the Kruisberg/Hotond climb while breakaway companion Worack got reeled in.
She would have to tackle the last two decisive climbs on her own, a tactic used by last year’s winner Ellen van Dijk. Although her 45-second gap was increasing on an ever splitting peloton, could she hang on for the last 25-km?
The peloton, fearing to have missed out on the move of the day counterattacked. A group of nine riders including Armitstead (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team), World Champion Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) and Jolien D’hoore (Wiggle Honda) attempted to bridge across to a very determined Longo Borghini.
But with 1 km to go, the 23 year-old Italian was still holding her 1-minute gap.
Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda) crossed the finish line solo, with a 50-seconds advantage on the nine chasers. The sprint for second was taken by Jolien D’hoore (Wiggle Honda) with Anna Van de Breggen (Rabo Liv Cycling Team) getting up for third.
It was a very emotional win for Longo Borghini: “This is a dream. I am always the slowest in a break so I had to go alone. Follow your instincts." She tweeted.
For highlights of the day including interviews, please log on to the UCI YouTube channel at tv.uci.ch.
Full results and standings