Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Karlijn Swinkels edges Anna van der Breggen to claim first WorldTour victory

Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, taking the biggest victory of her career so far. In a sprint of three, the 27-year-old Dutchwoman beat Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility).

The three riders had been part of a group of six that got away on the descent into Cittiglio with just over one lap to go. Swinkels' teammates Silvia Persico and Eleonora Gasparrini pulled the group to the Casale climb, where Van der Breggen set a hard pace, dropping the two domestiques.

The four remaining frontrunners started the Orino climb with an advantage of more than 30 seconds on a chasing group, and Van der Breggen's pace made Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL) lose contact.

Another acceleration by Van der Breggen dropped Ottestad, but the Norwegian champion made her way back on the descent and tried to attack from behind.

Swinkels closed down this attack and a last attempt by Ottestad at the flamme rouge, and in the sprint, Swinkels was the strongest. 47 seconds behind, Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) won the sprint for fourth place.

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“Actually, I wasn’t supposed to go in a breakaway, I was supposed to be waiting for the sprint. But then we had this occasion that we attack with the three of us. Silvia and Gaspa kept pulling for me, and I felt quite confident on the climb. The girls worked really hard for me, they believed in me today, and it’s really nice to be able to finish this off,” said Swinkels after the race.

“I was a little bit nervous for Anna because she’s really strong on the climb, but when the climb was finished, I knew I had to pull. I asked her to pull with me, but it’s normal she didn’t. Then I was really happy that Mie came back, that was really good for me, she pulled a lot in the final. I said to her, ‘I can pull a little bit’, but I didn’t want to pull too much because I knew that the gap was big enough with the pack, and I knew I had to sprint strong because it’s still hard after a long race."

How it unfolded

Originally scheduled as 152.7km from Luino to Cittiglio, the race had to be shortened to 146km as the Masciago Primo climb on the first 30km was scrapped due to overnight snowfall.

Hannah Ludwig (Cofidis) went on the breakaway and was up to two minutes ahead of the peloton, but the German was reeled in on the second of five 17.6km laps that included the short but steep climb to Casale and the more gradual 4km climb to Orino, cresting 7.5km from the finish line in Cittiglio.

On the third lap, Carlotta Cipressi (Human Powered Health) went off the front on the Orino climb, but she was caught on the descent, and a peloton of 26 riders started the penultimate lap with a 27-second lead on a chasing peloton of about 30 riders.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) set a hard pace on the Casale climb, then world champion Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly) led down the descent where gaps appeared in the group, but there was a general regrouping afterwards that also saw most of the riders from the second peloton come back.

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) attacked on the last kilometre of the Orino climb and was followed by Niewiadoma-Phinney and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech), with Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) bridging to them and Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) also making it across before the top.

More riders returned to the front on the descent, where Longo Borghini kept the pressure on, stringing the group out in single file. Gasparrini launched an attack at the end of the descent, 22km from the finish, and got a gap on the others.

Van der Breggen closed to Gasparrini with Persico, Georgi, Ottestad, and Swinkels to form a front group of six that was only a few seconds ahead of the next group. Soon, Persico and Gasparrini went to work at the front of the group to extend their advantage.

Crossing the finish line at the start of the final lap, they were 11 seconds ahead of a group of 17 riders, with another group of 17 riders at 35 seconds. Persico and Gasparrini kept the gap stable at 11-12 seconds to the foot of the climb to Casale where Van der Breggen pushed on, reducing the group to four riders.

Van der Breggen, Swinkels, Ottestad, and Georgi were 20 seconds ahead at the top and increased their gap further on the flat, starting the final climb to Orino 35 seconds ahead. Georgi had to let go early on the climb, and Van der Breggen’s attack on the hairpins before the top shook off Ottestad as well.

The Norwegian champion was eight seconds behind at the top of the climb while the peloton – where Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) had unsuccessfully tried to get away – was 48 seconds down.

With Van der Breggen not taking turns anymore on the descent, Ottestad came back with 4.5km to go and immediately went past the other two, trying to surprise them with an attack from behind, but Swinkels closed the gap. Ottestad then did most of the work on the run-in to the final kilometre and launched a last attack just after the flamme rouge to anticipate a sprint.

Swinkels closed the gap again, and Ottestad then led the trio onto the finishing straight where Swinkels and Van der Breggen went past her to launch their sprint 150 metres from the line, and Swinkels was the strongest to take the victory.

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