Wiebes declared winner of women's Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne

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Lorena Wiebes (Team Sunweb) has won the women's Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne one-day race. After a wind-blown race, a group of just over 20 riders contested the sprint, and Jolien D'hoore (Boels Dolmans) was first over the line, but after a review of the finish, the Belgian sprinter was relegated for irregular sprinting.

Led out by her teammates, Wiebes waited for a long time before launching her sprint, and D'hoore got the jump on the young Dutch sprinter. But Wiebes had the higher end speed, and D'hoore deviated from her line to keep Wiebes behind, and the race jury judged this to be irregular and relegated D'hoore. 

Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) moved up to second place, with Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal) rounding out the podium.

“I started a second too late, actually,” Wiebes recounted the sprint. “Jolien came from behind and boxed me in a bit, so I lost some speed. I still went all-in because it is only over at the finish line.”

Wiebes came up on D’hoore’s left side, and D’hoore reacted by drifting towards the barriers – and was eventually relegated for this.

Asked about the relegation, Wiebes said: “I don’t know, really. I realised that the closer we got to the line, the closer she came to the barriers on my side. It is sprinting, but we have seen how it can end with Fabio [Jakobsen], unfortunately,” she ended, referencing the heavy crash by her compatriot in the Tour de Pologne, caused by a similar deviation by Dylan Groenewegen.

How it unfolded

At 156.3 kilometres, the race was one of the longest in the UCI Women's WorldTour. It had a completely flat profile through West Flanders, but offshore winds of more than 30 km/h around De Panne promised echelon action on the two laps of the 46.3km finishing circuit.

There was no breakaway as the peloton sped towards De Panne ahead of the fastest schedule. Two small crashes split the group, but entering the final lap, everything was back together. Subsequent attacks by Anouska Koster (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Danique Braam (Lotto Soudal), Elisa Longo Borghini, and Ellen van Dijk (both Trek-Segafredo) were all quickly shut down by Team Sunweb who clearly targeted a sprint finish.

A move by Esther van Veen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Vita Heine (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) got a small gap but was also reeled in within a few kilometres. 31km from the finish, the peloton turned into a strong crosswind, and Boels Dolmans as well as Team Sunweb took the opportunity to split the race into echelons.

About 40 riders were left in the first group, though the race came back together again. But with 17km to go, another crosswind section split the race completely, leaving only sixteen riders in the front echelon, including five Sunweb riders and four from Boels Dolmans.

Inside the last ten kilometres, Boels Dolmans tried to send first Christine Majerus, then Lonneke Uneken off the front, followed by a second attack by Majerus. All those moves were neutralised by Sunweb who however did not lead the group at a constant pace, letting a group of eight riders come back and inviting further attacks by Jeanne Korevaar (CCC-Liv), Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans), Van Dijk, Uneken, and Longo Borghini.

Team Sunweb had to work very hard not to let any of those moves get away, but when they lined up their lead-out train at the 2km mark, the sprint looked inevitable. However, another attempt by Pieters with 1.5 km to go split the group completely, and Alison Jackson (Team Sunweb) had to close the gap to Pieters with Wiebes on her wheel.

Jackson did a long turn at the front, and Longo Borghini launched the sprint, with D'hoore reacting to her first. Wiebes launched a second later, and when they had both passed Longo Borghini and Wiebes came from behind with greater speed, D'hoore closed on the barriers to keep Wiebes behind. Though she crossed the line first, this move prompted the race jury to relegate D'hoore and give the victory to Wiebes.