Lepisto beats Vos to win Crescent Vargarda

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Lotta Lepistö (Cervelo-Bigla) upgraded her second place from 12 months ago into victory as she beat Marianne Vos (WM3 Pro Cycling) to win the Crescent Vargarda WorldTour race. Team Sunweb's Leah Kirchmann claimed third place.

Sunweb's Ellen van Dijk led the extremely reduced peloton into the final corner, laying down the immense power she possesses and pulling out a slight advantage on the other riders. However, with 100 metres to go, Van Dijk’s former teammate and newly crowned European champion Vos had pegged the gap and streamed past her.

Vos has been on a strong run of form since missing the summer’s racing with a broken collarbone, but she ran out of steam before the line and last year’s runner-up Lepisto came by to take her third WorldTour victory of the season.

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The sprinters did not get an easy ride with an aggressive race throughout that saw a strong group of 11 riders breakaway early. The group, which went clear in the opening 10 kilometres, consisted of riders from several of the big teams, including two-time World Champion Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-High5), Amanda Spratt (Orica-Scott), Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolamsn), Lisa Klein (Cervelo-Bigla) and Sabrina Stultiens (Team Sunweb). The group worked well together and held a lead of more than two minutes on the peloton, but began fracturing and attacking as the peloton closed in on them towards the end of the larger loop.

Bronzini, Blaak, Spratt, Stultiens and Canyon-SRAM’s Alexis Ryan formed an alliance, distancing their former break companions. They were too strong to be allowed to get too far up the road and by the climb of Hägrunga, the peloton had them in their sights. As the break was brought back, the peloton blew apart, leaving an elite group of fewer than 30 riders remaining.

With some serious numbers in the bunch, Boels Dolmans elected to make the final laps of the local circuit an intense experience for all. The climb played a crucial role, with Lizzie Deignan, Megan Guarnier and Anna van der Breggen all putting in large efforts on the short but steep ascent. Amy Pieters also had a go and held a lead for some time, but there were too many teams interested in keeping the group together with Cervelo Bigla, Team Sunweb and WM3 Pro Cycling all helping to pull the group back up to the attackers.

Lepistö was wise to Boels Dolmans' tactics and went clear at one point with a group that contained two of their riders, but once again it came back together. The attacks continued to fly right into the final kilometre, and it was only the sight of the final corner that focused the mind on the sprint. Despite attacking in the final kilometres, Lepistö had the legs to surge past Vos in the final metres to take the title. 

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