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Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) adopted a strong Dutch lead-out, surfed the wheels to perfection after which surged away to win the elite ladies’s highway race title on the UEC Highway European Championships in Limburg, Belgium.
The Dutch crew led the sphere into the ultimate flat kilometres of the 162km race from Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt, at speeds reaching greater than 53km/h.
Though France and Italy challenged the Netherlands with their very own lead-outs, Wiebes stayed cool, jumped on the Italian practice after which launched the quickest dash to the road.
She beat runner-up Elisa Balsamo (Italy), third-placed Daria Pikulik (Poland) and fourth-place Clara Copponi (France) by a number of bike lengths.
Wiebes’ victory marks the sixth consecutive win for the Netherlands within the elite ladies’s EUC highway race, and the eighth within the final 9 years, solely overwhelmed by Italy’s Marta Bastianelli within the 2018 version.
The way it unfolded
The elite ladies’s subject confronted a 162 km hilly highway race from Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt. The peloton handed by the end line for the primary time simply 27km into the race after which launched into opening brief circuits, a big loop and ending circuits in Hasselt.
There have been six cobbled sectors on the course that added to the dynamics of the race together with 4 categorised ascents: Kolmontberg (700m at 4.4%) and Zammelenberg (800m at 3.8%), which have been tackled a second time on the ultimate lap of the big circuit, earlier than coming into the Hasselt end circuits.
There have been a number of crashes, mechanicals and a flurry of assaults because the peloton departed from Heusden-Zolder however the subject remained intact as they entered the primary cobbled sectors of the race.
The Dutch crew with defending champion Mischa Bredewold managed the tempo on the entrance of the sphere however after a number of assaults from riders on the Belgian and Spanish groups, after which a countermove from Nikola Nosková (Czech Republic), the sphere break up with roughly 50 riders within the entrance group.
Mireia Benito (Spain) was the primary rider to realize any important time on the peloton, led by the Dutch squad, pushing her lead out to twenty seconds forward of the back-to-back climb over the Kolmontbberg and Zammelenberg on the primary massive circuit.
Benito crested the 2 climbs and maintained a spot of 25 seconds over the peloton, whereas Jade Wiel (France) tried to bridge throughout to the solo breakaway rider. Wiel’s efforts to bridge throughout have been brief lived, nonetheless and each she and Benito’s day out entrance got here to an finish because the race reached the Op de Kriezel cobblestone sector with 58 km to go.
Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France), Liane Lippert (Germany), and the Dutch trio Bredewold, Loes Adegeest and Thatlita de Jong fashioned a brand new five-rider transfer however that too was brief lived and the lowered subject was again collectively on the second massive circuit forward of the Kolmontbberg and Zammelenberg.
One other collection of assaults got here from riders from the Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium, however Sara Martin (Spain) was the one rider to efficiently open a spot inside 30km to go. Because the Spanish rider pushed her lead out to twenty seconds, Germany’s Lea Lin Teutenberg after which her teammate Lippert gave chase, adopted by Nina Berton (Luxembourg) and Marion Norbert (Belgium) however none have been robust sufficient to make it throughout the hole.
Martin’s hole elevated to almost 30 seconds as she raced by the end line firstly of the final 15 km circuit. However the eight-rider Dutch crew pulled to the entrance of the peloton, slashing the hole in half on the flat circuit, after which caught Martin with 12km to go.
The Dutch riders led the sphere into the ultimate kilometres of the race with a lead-out that hit speeds of over 53 km/h. They have been finally challenged by the French and Italian groups contained in the final kilometre and the dash grew to become chaotic as Italy surged on the left.
Wiebes misplaced her lead out however properly bought on the Italian practice after which kicked on the identical as Balsamo with 200 metres to go. She was considerably sooner than Balsamo and anybody else, taking the sixth consecutive elite ladies’s highway race title for the Netherlands.
Outcomes
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