D'Hoore wins Boels Rentals Ronde van Drenthe

Belgian champion Jolien D'hoore celebrated her 25th birthday in style with victory at the Ronde van Drenthe. The Wiggle-Honda rider jumped from the wheel of her teammate Chloe Hosking to take the win from Amy Pieters (Liv-Plantur) and Ellen van Dijk (Boels Dolmans).

The Ronde van Drenthe is a tough 138-kilometre race, with three major sections of cobbles and three climbs of the VAMberg, one of the stranger hills in the Netherlands - which gets bigger every few years because it’s man-made out of landfill. It’s always unpredictable, and has been won from solo attack, small group, bunch sprint and everything in between.

It looked like it would be another year for the escape artists, as the cobbles in the middle of the race whittled the bunch down and a large crash took out riders including last week’s Strade Bianche winner, Megan Guarnier. 2014 victor Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) signalled her intentions, cresting the final two climbs of the VAM at the front and was leading with only the current World ITT Champion, Velocio-SRAM’s Lisa Brennauer for company following the final ascent, before being caught by a select group of 15 with 28 kilometres to go.

When top Dutch sprinter Kirsten Wild (Hitec Products) punctured and had to wait for a wheel on the narrow lanes, it looked as though the winner would come out of this group, dominated by the big teams: four Wiggle Honda riders (Elisa Longo Borghini, Audrey Cordon, Hosking and D'hoore) three each from Boels Dolmans (Armistead, Ellen van Dijk and recent Le Samyn winner Chantal Blaak) and from Velocio-SRAM (Brennauer, Barbara Guarischi and Cyclingnews diarist Tiffany Cromwell) two Rabo-Liv (Roxane Knetemann and Lucinda Brand), and four solo riders, 2009 winner Emma Johansson (ORICA-AIS), Italian Road champion Elena Cecchini (Lotto-Soudal), 2011 World Cup series winner Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) and Liv-Plantur’s Pieters.

Longo Borghini, Blaak, Cromwell and Knetemann escaped, and had gained 25 seconds lead at 10km to go, and it seemed as though the script was set – four Classics riders known for their love of attacks and clever racing, with enough team-mates behind to destroy any chase attempts.

But this is bike racing, and it was so clear that something else was going on. Poker playing among the four leaders, with Longo Borghini clearly working for a team-mate behind, meant that not only were they caught by the chasers shortly into the final 7.9km lap, but they were also brought back by the second group, with Alé Cipollini working furiously on the front, and Hitec powering to bring Wild back for a bunch sprint.

While it looked like the game-playing had lost the big teams the race, it turned out for one team, at least, it was all part of the plan. Hosking used all her power to kick early, with team-mate D'hoore right on her wheel, ready to take over and make the win look easy, with Pieters second, and Van Dijk third.

For D'hoore, the win couldn’t have come on a better day, an extra celebration for her 25th birthday. She credits the step up she took last year, which saw her win stages of the Boels Rental Ladies Tour and the BeNe Ladies Tour, and two Track World Cup golds in the omnium, to finally finishing her university degree and being able to focus full-time on cycling. Already 2015 is looking good, winning the first round of the Lotto Cycling Cup, Omloop van het Hageland, and now the first World Cup, while Wiggle Honda are dominating Drenthe, after Giorgia Bronzini won the opening race here, Drentse 8.

After the final Drenthe race, Novilon Eurocup tomorrow, the World Cup will move to Italy for the Trofeo Alfredo Binda on 29th March, before finishing the Classics portion of the season with the Ronde van Vlaanderen on 5th April, and Flèche Wallonne on 29th.

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Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jolien D'hoore (Bel) WHT3:33:34
2Amy Pieters (Ned) TLPRow 1 - Cell 2
3Eleonora Van Dijk (Ned) DLTRow 2 - Cell 2
4Lucinda Brand (Ned) RBWRow 3 - Cell 2
5Chloe Hosking (Aus) WHTRow 4 - Cell 2
6Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) VELRow 5 - Cell 2
7Elizabeth Armitstead (GBr) DLT0:00:03
8Emma Johansson (Swe) OGERow 7 - Cell 2
9Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) ALERow 8 - Cell 2
10Barbara Guarischi (Ita) VELRow 9 - Cell 2
11Kirsten Wild (Ned) HPURow 10 - Cell 2
12Romy Kasper (Ger) DLTRow 11 - Cell 2
13Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) BCTRow 12 - Cell 2
14Elena Cecchini (Ita) LBLRow 13 - Cell 2
15Kim De Baat (Ned) LWZRow 14 - Cell 2
16Gracie Elvin (Aus) OGE0:00:10
17Rossella Ratto (Ita) ISG0:00:15
18Janneke Ensing (Ned) PHVRow 17 - Cell 2
19Anouska Koster (Ned) RBWRow 18 - Cell 2
20Roxane Knetemann (Ned) RBWRow 19 - Cell 2
21Floortje Mackaij (Ned) TLPRow 20 - Cell 2
22Anna Van Der Breggen (Ned) RBWRow 21 - Cell 2
23Natalie Van Gogh (Ned) PHVRow 22 - Cell 2
24Audrey Cordon (Fra) WHTRow 23 - Cell 2
25Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) WHTRow 24 - Cell 2
26Chantal Blaak (Ned) DLTRow 25 - Cell 2
27Lauren Kitchen (Aus) HPURow 26 - Cell 2
28Susanna Zorzi (Ita) LBLRow 27 - Cell 2
29Veronica Cornolti (Ita) SEFRow 28 - Cell 2
30Lisa Brennauer (Ger) VELRow 29 - Cell 2
31Kendall Ryan (USA) USARow 30 - Cell 2
32Simona Frapporti (Ita) ALERow 31 - Cell 2
33Iris Slappendel (Ned) BCTRow 32 - Cell 2
34Larisa Pankova (Rus) ASARow 33 - Cell 2
35Giorgia Bronzini (Ita) WHTRow 34 - Cell 2
36Valentina Scandolara (Ita) OGERow 35 - Cell 2
37Shara Gillow (Aus) RBWRow 36 - Cell 2
38Julia Soek (Ned) TLPRow 37 - Cell 2
39Mia Radotic (Cro) BTC0:01:05
40Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) HPU0:01:07
41Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) ALE0:01:25
42Coryn Rivera (USA) USA0:01:43
43Roxane Fournier (Fra) FUT0:01:47
44Jeanne Korevaar (Ned) NEDRow 43 - Cell 2
45Willeke Knol (Ned) TLP0:02:47
46Evy Kuijpers (Ned) LWZ0:05:14
47Alexis Ryan (USA) USARow 46 - Cell 2
48Eugenia Bujak (Pol) BTCRow 47 - Cell 2
49Milda Jankauskaite (Ltu) ASARow 48 - Cell 2
50Marijn De Vries (Ned) PHVRow 49 - Cell 2
51Céline Van Severen (Bel) LWZRow 50 - Cell 2
52Kaat Hannes (Bel) VLLRow 51 - Cell 2
53Moniek Tenniglo (Ned) RBWRow 52 - Cell 2
54Tetiana Riabchenko (Ukr) ISGRow 53 - Cell 2
55Olena Demydova (Ukr) ASARow 54 - Cell 2
56Jelena Eric (Srb) BTCRow 55 - Cell 2
57Arianna Fidanza (Ita) ALERow 56 - Cell 2
58Kseniia Dobrynina (Rus) ASARow 57 - Cell 2
59Riejanne Markus (Ned) PHVRow 58 - Cell 2
60Christine Majerus (Lux) DLTRow 59 - Cell 2
61Lieselot Decroix (Bel) LBLRow 60 - Cell 2
62Melanie Woering (Ned) TRYRow 61 - Cell 2
63Malgorzta Jasinska (Pol) ALERow 62 - Cell 2
64Alena Amialiusik (Blr) VELRow 63 - Cell 2
65Beatrice Bartelloni (Ita) ALERow 64 - Cell 2
66Tatiana Antoshina (Rus) SEFRow 65 - Cell 2
67Amanda Spratt (Aus) OGERow 66 - Cell 2
68Chantal Hoffmann (Lux) LBLRow 67 - Cell 2
69Heather Fischer (USA) USARow 68 - Cell 2
70Tayler Wiles (USA) VELRow 69 - Cell 2
71Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) OGERow 70 - Cell 2
DNFMegan Guarnier (USA) DLTRow 71 - Cell 2
DNFEmilia Fahlin (Swe) WHTRow 72 - Cell 2
DNFClaudia Häusler (Ger) TLPRow 73 - Cell 2
DNFSara Mustonen (Swe) TLPRow 74 - Cell 2
DNFIlona Hoeksma (Ned) PHVRow 75 - Cell 2
DNFJip Van Den Bos (Ned) PHVRow 76 - Cell 2
DNFLizzie Williams (Aus) OGERow 77 - Cell 2
DNFShelley Olds (USA) BCTRow 78 - Cell 2
DNFLotta Lepistö (Fin) BCTRow 79 - Cell 2
DNFAshleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) BCTRow 80 - Cell 2
DNFMiriam Bjørnsrud (Nor) HPURow 81 - Cell 2
DNFEmilie Moberg (Nor) HPURow 82 - Cell 2
DNFJulie Leth (Den) HPURow 83 - Cell 2
DNFLiisi Rist (Est) ISGRow 84 - Cell 2
DNFAlice Maria Arzuffi (Ita) ISGRow 85 - Cell 2
DNFAnna Trevisi (Ita) ISGRow 86 - Cell 2
DNFAizhan Zhaparova (Rus) ASARow 87 - Cell 2
DNFPolona Batagelj (Slo) BTCRow 88 - Cell 2
DNFUrsa Pintar (Slo) BTCRow 89 - Cell 2
DNFOlena Pavlukhina (Aze) BTCRow 90 - Cell 2
DNFAnna Potokina (Rus) SEFRow 91 - Cell 2
DNFElena Franchi (Ita) SEFRow 92 - Cell 2
DNFSari Saarelainen (Fin) SEFRow 93 - Cell 2
DNFMichela Pavin (Ita) SEFRow 94 - Cell 2
DNFFien Delbaere (Bel) VLLRow 95 - Cell 2
DNFSteffy Van Den Haute (Bel) VLLRow 96 - Cell 2
DNFKelly Van Den Steen (Bel) VLLRow 97 - Cell 2
DNFGilke Croket (Bel) VLLRow 98 - Cell 2
DNFNina Kessler (Ned) LWZRow 99 - Cell 2
DNFMariel Borgerink (Ned) LWZRow 100 - Cell 2
DNFMarissa Otten (Ned) LWZRow 101 - Cell 2
DNFLara Vieceli (Ita) MICRow 102 - Cell 2
DNFNina Gulino (Ita) MICRow 103 - Cell 2
DNFMichela Balducci (Ita) MICRow 104 - Cell 2
DNFAlessandra Lari (Ita) MICRow 105 - Cell 2
DNFEyerusalem Kelil (Eth) MICRow 106 - Cell 2
DNFJessie Daams (Bel) LBLRow 107 - Cell 2
DNFCarlee Taylor (Aus) LBLRow 108 - Cell 2
DNFLaura Jorgensen (USA) USARow 109 - Cell 2
DNFAmy Charity (USA) USARow 110 - Cell 2
DNFPascale Jeuland (Fra) FUTRow 111 - Cell 2
DNFEugénie Duval (Fra) FUTRow 112 - Cell 2
DNFSéverine Eraud (Fra) FUTRow 113 - Cell 2
DNFHenriette Woering (Ned) TRYRow 114 - Cell 2
DNFKelly Markus (Ned) TRYRow 115 - Cell 2
DNFCecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) TRYRow 116 - Cell 2
DNFAmy Hill (GBr) TRYRow 117 - Cell 2
DNFCorine Van Der Zijden (Ned) NEDRow 118 - Cell 2
DNFMarjolein Van 'T Geloof (Ned) NEDRow 119 - Cell 2
DNFNicky Zijlaard (Ned) NEDRow 120 - Cell 2
DNFJanine Van Der Meer (Ned) NEDRow 121 - Cell 2
DNFLotte Van Hoek (Ned) NEDRow 122 - Cell 2

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