Elisa Balsamo wins crash-marred Classic Brugge-De Panne Women

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Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) has won the Classic Brugge-De Panne. With little to no wind, the peloton was reduced only by several crashes. The last crash in a corner with 2.4 kilometres to go only took down two riders but split the peloton into several groups that only came together again on the finishing straight.

Barbara Guarischi (Movistar Team) tried a late attack but was closed down by Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), leading out her teammate Lonneke Uneken. 

Balsamo launched her sprint 175 metres from the line and held off Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) and Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) to win her second consecutive Women's WorldTour race.

“It is a total surprise,” said the world champion after the sprint. “I was working for Chloe Hosking, but in the last kilometres she told me that there was a crash and that I have to sprint.”

With no teammates left to lead her out, Balsamo had to find her own way. “I had to try to find the best position. I did a good sprint, and I am very happy. Winning in the rainbow jersey is amazing, very emotional, and my parents are here too. I want to enjoy this jersey from the first day to the last,” she finished.

How it unfolded

Like the men the day before, the women’s race started in Brugge. After 55.5 kilometres, the peloton hit the 45.1-kilometre finishing circuit near Veurne, following it to the finish on the Veurnestraat in De Panne from where they would do two full laps of the circuit for a total distance of 162.8 km – the longest race in the Women’s WorldTour.

There were several attacks early in the race, but no breakaway held a lead that was significantly bigger than a minute. The longest-lived break of Nicole Steigenga (Team Coop-Hitec Products), April Tacey (Le Col-Wahoo), Antonia Gröndahl (IBCT), Hannah Ludwig (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), Kirstie van Haaften, and Marith Vanhove (both Parkhotel Valkenburg) just made it to the start of the live broadcast before being caught with 75 km to go.

A four-rider breakaway of Sara Van de Vel (IBCT), Senne Knaven (AG Insurance-NXTG), Fien Delbaere (Multum Accountants Ladies Cycling Team), and Danique Braam (Bingoal-Chevalmeire-Van Eyck) soon took over.

With 62km to go, Katia Ragusa tried to move up in the peloton in the gutter but hit a pothole that caused her to crash, also taking down Georgia Williams (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Léa Curinier (Team DSM), and Marjolein van’t Geloof (Le Col-Wahoo), though all four could continue the race. From the breakaway, Braam won the prize sprint 59.8 km from the finish, and four kilometres later, the break was reeled in.

Entering the final lap with one large peloton and with very little wind, a mass sprint was on the cards. Team SD Worx tried to force a selection on the long, exposed road through De Moeren and succeeded in creating small gaps, but things quickly came back together. Alice Sharpe (IBCT) then launched a solo attack with 29 km to go, her gap hovering around 15 seconds for a while. Ten kilometres later, Mieke Kröger (Human Powered Health) powered past a faltering Sharpe.

The former time trial champion, held a nine-second advantage over the peloton when there was a huge crash in the peloton as it was navigating a traffic island, with riders and bikes landing on top of each other or getting stuck in roadside hedges. Fewer than 50 riders remained in the peloton when it caught Kröger 14.4km from the finish. A last attack initiated by Mieke Docx (Lotto Soudal Ladies) was brought back by Team DSM.

In the run-in to the sprint finish, Anna Trevisi (UAE Team ADQ) cut a corner too close with 2.4km to go and crashed, also taking down Wiebes’ lead-out woman Charlotte Kool and splitting the peloton into several small groups.

Bastianelli closed the gap to the first group, and 23 riders entered the finishing straight together. Coming out of the corner in fourth position, Guarischi launched her last-ditch attempt to anticipate a sprint, and Kopecky’s effort to reel her in split the group, leaving only ten riders to sprint for the win, with Balsamo having the upper hand.

With her second consecutive Women’s WorldTour victory after the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the world champion also defends her lead in the Women’s WorldTour ranking while her teammate Shirin van Anrooij continues to lead the Women’s WorldTour U23 ranking.