Marta Bastianelli wins Postnord Vargarda WestSweden Road Race

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Marta Bastianelli (Team Virtu Cycling) won the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden Road Race. After an active race with lots of attacks, things came down to the sprint of a reduced peloton. The Italian champion came through the final corner in the slipstream of Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) and came past Vos on the final metres, winning the race with just a few centimetres. Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) sprinted to third place.

Vos dived into the last right turn with 300m to race, hoping to repeat her victory of 2018. She had speed and kicked hard but Bastianelli was on her wheel and then came past her at the line to win and quickly begin celebrating. It was her sixth victory of the 2019 season and her first since winning the Italian national title in late July. She is the first Italian rider to ever win the Postnord Vårgårda WestSweden Road Race.

"I am very happy to win this race today," said Bastianelli in the post-race interview. "I had some injury problems with my knee before the Giro Rosa. Today, it was very important to have team support, especially Barbara Guarischi helped me in the final. I was in the breakaway at the start of the race, and my legs felt a bit weak after that.

"I know it's important to get through the last corner in second position. I took Marianne's wheel, and she did a very long sprint. I followed her and came around for the finish, it was very close, but I won. I am happy to win in my new [Italian] champion's jersey and happy for the team and my sports director Carmen Small."

Vos ensured she was perfectly placed going into and out of the fast turn but could not get rid of Bastianelli and then mistakenly took the longest line to the finish. "I was actually quite a good lead out from Ale Cipollini and Virtu," Vos said. "I think Marta was on my wheel and it was just a little too long and I didn't have the legs."

How it happened

The race consisted of one long loop south and east of Vårgårda followed by three shorter laps including the Hägrungabakken hill and three finishing laps that took in a new gravel section ending only three kilometres from the finish in addition to the hill. 28.6 kilometres of the 145.3-kilometre race were on eight gravel sections. Although rain was forecast, it stayed dry throughout the race.

The first important move came after 35km when an attack on the uphill third gravel section led to a group of fourteen riders with, among others, Anna van der Breggen, Amy Pieters (both Boels Dolmans), Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM), Coryn Rivera, Lucinda Brand, Juliette Labous (all Team Sunweb), Demi Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Romy Kasper (Alé Cipollini), Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo), and Bastianelli getting away.

This strong breakaway had an advantage of more than a minute with 100km to go. Trek-Segafredo and CCC-Liv chased hard in the peloton to reduce the gap, but the break was only brought back on the second short laps when Vos and Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) counterattacked on the Hägrunga hill, resetting the race with 62km to go.

After several short-lived attacks, Roxane Knetemann (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Eri Yonamine (Alé Cipollini), and Elena Pirrone (Valcar Cylance) went away with 46km left and stayed ahead for one lap, being caught at the start of the penultimate lap.

Again, there were many attempts to get away from the peloton. Moniek Tenniglo (Mitchelton-Scott) succeeded with an acceleration on the gravel section 20km from the finish and started the final lap with an advantage of 22 seconds.

Deignan and Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb) tried to bridge to Tenniglo the final time up Hägrungabakken but could not get away. Mackaij tried again on the final gravel section, and Tenniglo was caught just after.

Brand, Vos, and Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott) were among the riders who tried to anticipate a sprint with a late attack, but things quickly came back together for the sprint finish where Vos just saw herself beaten by Bastianelli.

Despite not participating in the Vårgårda race weekend, Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) continues to lead the UCI Women's WorldTour. Marta Cavalli (Valcar Cylance) finished in sixth place to defend her lead in the Women's WorldTour U23 ranking.

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