Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: Fierce fight between Demi Vollering vs Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney ends in a maiden victory for European champion

After landing on the podium twice in the past, European champion Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) finally scored a victory in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad after out-sprinting Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-Sram zondacrypto) from a two rider escape.

Vollering made her first acceleration on the Vesten, the flatter start of the Muur van Geraardsbergen, causing splits in the peloton. Her teammate Franzi Koch jumped in front of her and set a hard pace, catching a breakaway of four that had included another FDJ United-Suez rider, Elise Chabbey.

Niewiadoma-Phinney had initially missed Vollering's move but bridged just before the steepest part of the climb where Vollering attacked, and the Polish champion was the only one who could follow.

The two riders traded turns until the last kilometre to keep the chasers behind. Niewiadoma-Phinney made Vollering lead onto the finishing straight but could not reply to Vollering's punch when the latter opened the sprint 150 metres from the line.

21 seconds later, Wiebes sprinted to third place ahead of Cat Ferguson (Movistar) and Koch.

"It feels good to finish it off here today. It was my own expectation that I would do it, but then to do it makes me proud. The team did a really good job, the whole day at the front, Elise in the breakaway, and then Franzi did the perfect lead-out on the Muur. I almost didn't do anything myself," said Vollering after the race.

"It didn't go exactly how we planned it, but that also shows that we really start to understand each other. It's now my second year in the team, and even if the plan changes a bit, we adjust very quickly. Everybody knows what is expected from them, step in their role, and it's amazing to see that everybody takes their responsibilities and does their job," Vollering continued.

"I was alone on the Muur at first, then Franzi came from the back and did the first part perfectly. We already had a gap, so I just continued as hard as possible. At the top, it was only Kasia left with me, and then it was full gas to the finish," Vollering described her decisive attack.

In the final, the 29-year-old could use her team's strength in numbers to her advantage to share the work with Niewiadoma-Phinney who did not have teammates in the chasing group behind.

"In the beginning, she didn't work that hard, but then she did take over a lot. I think it was on her to ride because if we got caught, her chance was pretty much gone. I knew that I had three teammates behind, and if we got caught, we could have played the game again. It was all or nothing for her," said Vollering.

How it unfolded

Covering 137.2km from Gent to Ninove and including nine climbs (three of which were on cobblestones) plus five flat cobblestone sections, the race saw attacks right from the start. The early breakaway consisted of Lea-Lin Teutenberg (Lotto-Intermarché), Britt de Grave, Jony van den Eijnden (both Citymesh-Customm), and Emilie Fortin (Minimax). Their advantage maxed out at 3:15 minutes, but they were caught on the Molenberg with 45km to go.

Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) was the first rider onto the two-kilometre Haaghoek cobblestone section, but Koch soon took over at the front with Vollering in her wheel. On the Leberg climb that followed, Chabbey launched her attack, taking Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ), Kamilla Aasebø (Uno-X Mobility), and Nina Berton (EF Education-Oatly) with her.

This quartet worked well together and built a gap of up to 1:09 minutes, forcing SD Worx-Protime and AG Insurance-Soudal to work in the peloton in order to close the gap. In the run-in to Geraardsbergen, a mass crash with 19km to go took down many riders and caused a mechanical for pre-race favourite Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) who had to change bikes and never came back to the front.

On the Vesten, Koch led out Vollering who attacked on the Muur and dropped everyone but Niewiadoma-Phinney before beating the Polish champion in the sprint. Behind them, riders that were in ones and twos over the Muur consolidated into a chase group where Van der Breggen worked hard to close the gap, but the tailwind in the final ensured that the front duo stayed away.

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