Niewiadoma solos to victory in rainy Trofeo Alfredo Binda

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Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) left her mark on the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, attacking twice on the final lap and soloing to victory. World champion Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) beat European champion Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) in the sprint for second place. With her first one-day UCI Women's WorldTour win, Niewiadoma also claimed the lead in the individual classification.

"It's a special win for me, especially because I'm in a new team and they taught me the importance of having strong teammates," Niewiadoma said after the race. "I saw [Vincenzo] Nibali in Milan-San Remo yesterday and wanted to try the same. We had control of the race, things went exactly like we planned. It's amazing that we were able to put our plan into practice like that."

Once again, the Women's WorldTour peloton had to contend with difficult conditions, as it rained for most of the 131.3-kilometre race. The rain and cold contributed to a slow start with no attacks in the first hour of racing. The pace only picked up when the peloton reached the 17.8-kilometre circuit around the finishing town Cittiglio.

The race would be decided on four laps of this circuit with the short-but-steep climb to Casale and the gradual four-kilometre ascent to Orino. From the top, there were just under eight kilometres to the finish.

Though the peloton split briefly on the Casale climb on the first of the four laps, everything was back together at the start of the third-to-last lap with 52km to go. Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini) then got away and built a 20-second gap, but was caught again by the peloton on the lower slopes of the Orino climb.

Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM), Ane Santesteban (Alé Cipollini), and Elinor Barker (Wiggle High5) attacked over the top, though Barker had to let the other two go after a few kilometres. Starting the penultimate lap, Amialiusik and Santesteban were 28 seconds ahead of Barker, with the peloton a further 25 seconds behind.

Karol-Ann Canuel (Boels Dolmans) attacked from the peloton on the Casale climb and caught Barker, but was then brought back by Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini who led a chase group of around 10 riders.

Santesteban and Amialiusik were less than 20 seconds ahead of this group going into the Orino climb, prompting Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans) and Malgorzata Jasinska (Movistar) to make a move. They joined the front duo on the descent and worked well together to build an advantage of almost a minute as they started the final lap of 17.8 km.

Sunweb, Wiggle High5, and Mitchelton Scott took up the chase and took half a minute off the gap on the two kilometres to the foot of the Casale climb. Here, Niewiadoma, local rider Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5), and Blaak attacked and soon caught the front group as the peloton completely disintegrated.

About a dozen riders started the short descent together. Canuel, Longo Borghini, and Niewiadoma opened up a small gap but were caught shortly before the road went up again towards Orino. From the lead group of thirteen riders, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Canyon-SRAM), Amialiusik, and Canuel tried to get away, but eventually, it was Niewiadoma who succeeded with a long, sustained attack.

The Pole crested the top of the climb with less than ten seconds on the chasers. Lucy Kennedy (Mitchelton Scott) and later Longo Borghini tried to chase solo, but Niewiadoma increased her advantage on the wet descent to Cittiglio and won solo with 22 seconds to spare. In a group of nine, Blaak won the sprint for second ahead of Vos and Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton Scott), Amialiusik and Ferrand-Prévot completed a great race for Canyon//SRAM in fifth and sixth place.

With this victory and her second place at the Strade Bianche, Niewiadoma takes the lead in the UCI Women's WorldTour ahead of the next race, the one-day race Driedaagse De Panne on Thursday, 22 March.

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