A hectic day of racing in Belgium ended in a reduced bunch sprint between Lorena Wiebes and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek). A tyre’s width separated the SD Worx-Protime rider from Balsamo, and in the end, Wiebes took her fifth sprint win of the year. Chiara Consonni of UAE Team ADQ sprinted to third ahead of Charlotte Kool.
- Once they got to the climbs Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) was the first to really put pressure on the peloton. Her second acceleration of the day on the Kemmelberg with 52 km to go drew out a group of favourites including Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), Pfeiffer Georgi (DSM Firmenich-PostNL), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), and her teammate Wiebes. Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Longo Borghini acted fast to get Balsamo back into contention before the move got too far away. The move was short-lived, but it shed some light on who in the peloton was feeling good and who would need to scramble to find their legs.
- On the second ascent of the Kemmelberg, from Ossuaire this time, Kopecky went again followed closely by Georgi and her teammate Wiebes. The main missing women were Lidl-Trek, but they benefitted from a move by Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) who carried Longo Borghini, Shirin van Anrooij, Pieterse and Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-Protime) up to the lead trio. But there was little cooperation so the move was reeled back in quickly, putting Balsamo back in contention.
- With the climbs behind them and the main groups back together, some teams turned their attention to a potential bunch sprint with all eyes on DSM Firmenich-PostNL’s Charlotte Kool, Balsamo and Wiebes. Movistar was the team least willing to sit back. They sent Emma Norsgaard and Floortje Mackaij on multiple attacks, but Lidl-Trek quickly shut the moves down with Ellen van Dijk patrolling the front.
- On the back of all the attacks from Movistar, Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) took a flyer, and after all the work chasing down Mackaij and Norsgaard Lidl-Trek couldn’t initially respond. It was up to DSM Firmenich-PostNL to chase. Led by Georgi, they brought back the Australian within sight of the finish line and it came down to a sprint.
Top 10
Brief analysis:
- Going into the sprint DSM Firmenich-PostNL led into the final 500 metres with Georgi. Kopecky took over for the British national champion and the speed spurred the sprinters into top gear.
- Wiebes was the first of the top sprinters to kick. She went to the right of Kopecky, with Balsamo on Wiebes’ right. The Dutchwoman could have shut the door on the Italian but didn’t. Balsamo just wasn’t able to throw her bike in time to pass the SD Worx-Protime rider.
- Behind the top two Consonni was able to outkick Kool, who got stuck between Kopecky and Consonni at the worst moment.
Quote of the day
In her post-race interview, Wiebes praised the World Champion for her leadout and gave us at home a little insight into the team’s plans for Tour of Flanders in a week.
It was a great leadout. I had 100% confidence in Lotte. We have done great things already this season, and next week it will be for Lotte again.
Lorena Wiebes after winning Gent-Wevelgem
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