Rivera seizes Women's WorldTour lead with Flanders win - Women's News Shorts

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Coryn Rivera's string of top results has propelled her to the top of the UCI Women's WorldTour standings. The Tour of Flanders and Trofeo Alfredo Binda winner becomes the second American to lead the series after Megan Guarnier won the inaugural edition.

Rivera's two WorldTour wins, and her third place in Gent-Wevelgem gave her a 60-point advantage over fellow sprinter Elena Cecchini (Canyon-SRAM). Annemiek van Vleuten and former leader Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) are separated by nine points in third and fourth, respectively, with Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) in fifth.

UCI Women's WorldTour standings after Tour of Flanders

D'hoore switches focus to track after Dottignies victory

After a successful early season, culminating in a sprint victory on Monday's GP Dottignies over Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini), Belgian champion Jolien D'hoore will switch to fixed gears as she turns her attention to the UCI Track World Championships in Hong Kong. The racing begins on April 12.

D'hoore and teammate Lotte Kopecky are due to race the Madison at the world championships. The pair are the current European champions in the discipline, which will be a rainbow jersey event for the first time since its addition to the program last year. D'hoore will also race the Scratch Race.

The decision to race the GP Dottignies came after a disappointing Tour of Flanders, where D'hoore missed making the front group.

“Normally I wasn’t planning to ride this race, but after the race yesterday I had a good talk with Giorgia [Bronini],” D’hoore said. “You know, she’s like my mentor, and she’s the mother of the team, and she cheered me up yesterday evening. She said that it was a good plan to race today, to forget Flanders especially."

Elvin makes history in Tour of Flanders

Gracie Elvin became Australia's first ever podium finisher at the women's Tour of Flanders with a runner-up ride into Oudenaarde on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Orica-Scott rider made the Flemish Classic her main spring target, and came within inches of victory in the sprint finish. Only Sunweb's Coryn Rivera proved faster. Despite the near miss, Elvin was pleased to come away with a strong result.

"The win would've have been amazing, but I was so close today," Elvin said. "My best place in previous editions was not even in the front group, so to come here and be in the mix and try to go for the win is amazing."

Orica's Annemiek van Vleuten helped set up Elvin for a strong finish in the 14th women's edition of De Ronde, joining a four-rider late attack and allowing her teammate to stay protected in the bunch as others chased down the move. Even after the catch was made, Van Vleuten nearly notched a podium herself, finishing fourth and just behind third-placed Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) to give Orica-Scott two riders inside the top five.

"It just goes to show all the hard work I’ve put in this season is paying off and how great the team was today. I really didn’t have to do much before the finish, everyone had a role to play and they did it brilliantly, especially Annemiek right at the end," Elvin said.

"She could have won today and I had to make sure I made the right decisions once that group had been caught. This is definitely a career highlight for me, I’ve been dreaming about this for a long time and after coming so close again and again I want to keep improving."

Cecchini proud despite missing podium in Flanders

One day after finishing a disappointing sixth in the Tour of Flanders, Canyon-SRAM's Elena Cecchini can look back on her placing with pride after her team contributed to chasing down the late breakaway of Elisa Longo Borghini, Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten and Kasia Niewiadoma.

"There is of course some disappointment about the sprint because you never race for 6th place. But I am proud of the fact that we were there and trying to win one of the hardest races," Cecchini said. "That didn't happen really often last year. I'm proud of the girls and how we raced and I'm sure that one day we will Flanders."

Cecchini has been top 10 in each of the WorldTour races to date, with a second place in the Ronde van Drenthe her best result.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who is still overcoming an injury-plagued 2016, was prominent at the front of that chase, and said, “It feels great to be again at the front! I was trying everything to bring our group back to the four leaders because I knew that Elena had a good chance to win in a sprint. I’m not disappointed about the result, it’s racing! Every race as a team we are doing better and today the win was so close.”