On Sunday morning, Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos were tied on three wins each at Ronde van Drenthe, with its characteristic climb up the VAM-berg to finish. As the sun began to set, Wiebes pulled clear of her compatriot, because of course she did.
- Valerie Demey was the solitary carrot ahead of the peloton for about 80 kilometres before the penultimate approach to the VAM-berg. The courageous rider from the VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team was caught on a particularly exposed and windswept stretch of road, bringing a number of favourites to the front of the pack including three-time winner Wiebes.
- With about 30 kilometres left to race, Puck Pieterse launched an attack over the infamous climb, briefly establishing a stellar eight-rider group comprising Fenix-Deceuninck teammate Christina Schweinberger, Wiebes, Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime), Pfeiffer Georgi, Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek). The group worked eventually settled into a fairly fluid work rate, but after gaining a maximum of around 20 seconds, the UAE Team ADQ-led peloton brought it all back just inside the last 20 km.
- There were a couple more probing accelerations, including another from Pieterse, but a sense calm settled on the bunch in the 10 km running into the finale as the favourites’ teams tightened their grip.
- Georgi won the race into the crucial corner before the climb with Kool close at hand, but SD Worx were as ever breathing down their necks.
- Majerus picked up the pace for Wiebes at the 300-metres-to-go mark, Balsamo latching onto the reigning champ’s wheel, but as the trio hit the cobbles, Wiebes launched herself out of the saddle and powered up to the finish to claim her fourth consecutive Ronde van Drenthe title.
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Brief analysis:
- While SD Worx-Protime were all over the race, even Wiebes not afraid of doing a pull on the nose of the bunch, there were plenty of other teams hopeful of making something of the day. Chief among them was DSM-firmenich PostNL, perhaps even more visible in the closing phases than the striking jerseys worn by Wiebes and company. Pfeiffer Georgi and Charlotte Kool were right where they needed to be going into the final lap, ready to jump into the Pieterse-led move, and the team was instrumental in maintaining the pace on the run-in. Then came the final kilometre and Georgi took charge for sprinter Kool, but they seemed to be waiting for the final few-hundred metres, which ultimately left them open to SD Worx-Protime’s superior, maybe more fresh acceleration before the short stretch of cobbles. In the end, Kool remained on her teammate’s wheel all the way to the line, and it’s hard not to wonder if the clearly on-form Georgi might have done better than 10th if she’d been set free.
- There aren’t any superlatives left for SD Worx-Protime; once again, the Dutch team put on a dominant display to set up the outright favourite in Wiebes, their aura of confidence almost visible to the naked eye. Also among their number was Mischa Bredewold who won the European Championships on the same finish last September ahead of Wiebes and Lotte Kopecky (another trade teammate), and her distinctive jersey was never far from the action, but its Christine Majerus who deserves a special mention for this race. The veteran all-rounder found some great form just in time to follow all the right moves before practically airlifting her leader to victory in the final kilometre. Her acceleration 300 metres from the line sent the pack scrambling with only Balsamo able to hang on, and Wiebes was perfectly set up to get the job done.
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