Marta Bastianelli wins Gent-Wevelgem women's race

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Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini) won Gent-Wevelgem in a sprint from a group of just over thirty riders after a hard-fought finale. Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton-Scott) narrowly missed victory for the second year in a row, but takes the overall lead in the UCI Women's WorldTour. Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM) sprinted to third place.

The main difficulties of the 142.6-kilometre race were the three climbs of the Baneberg, Kemmelberg, and Monteberg, each being ascended twice, as well as three Plugstreet gravel sections in between the two hilly loops.

No rider could get away from the peloton for more than a few minutes on the first 50 kilometres. There were some splits on the Baneberg and the Kemmelberg, but after the Monteberg everything had come back together.

Next up where the three Plugstreets, stretches of gravel roads named for World War 1 events. Raced at high speed, the peloton split into three groups here. The lead group was up to 28 seconds ahead of the second bunch, but the three groups joined up again on the run-in to the second ascent of the Baneberg.

With under 50km to go, the final started here, as a group of six riders attacked just before the climb. They were caught immediately, but the peloton split into two groups in this chase. The two groups came back together before the Kemmelberg, and it was there, with 38km to go, that the decisive move would be made.

The top riders led up the steep cobbled slopes themselves, and after the descent a group of 16 riders had gotten clear of the next group. Most sprinters couldn't keep up with the best puncheurs - Jolien D'hoore was in the first chase group that was quickly brought back to the front by her teammate Gracie Elvin.

Chloe Hosking and Marta Bastianelli (both Alé Cipollini) were even further behind in another group of about 30 riders. Together, this group bridged to the front after a few kilometres of chasing, bringing the first peloton up to some 60 riders.

There were a couple of attacks in the following kilometres; Anouska Koster (WaowDeals) got away briefly, then Rozanne Slik (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) jumped and held a gap of up to 27 seconds through the city of Ypres, passing through the Menin Gate towards the finish in Wevelgem.

In the open landscape after Ypres, Boels Dolmans and Team Sunweb put the race in the gutter in a crosswind section and reduced the front group to 36 riders with 16km to go. In the final ten kilometres, it was again Boels Dolmans and especially Team Sunweb who took charge of the race - not to prepare the sprint, but trying to pre-empt one: Almost every rider of the two teams attacked in turn, but they also closed down each other's attacks every time.

The last to attack was Ellen van Dijk (Team Sunweb) just before the 2-km mark, but she was reeled in by a Boels Dolmans rider, and the race would come down to a sprint. Chloe Hosking went to the front with 500 metres to go, leading out her team mate Marta Bastianelli. Jolien D'hoore opened the sprint 150 metres from the line, Bastianelli went after the Belgian champion and passed her on the last 50 metres, with Lisa Klein finishing third.

"It was a fantastic day for us, everything went as it should," said Bastianelli after the finish. "I have to thank Chloe Hosking for her great leadout, that was fundamental to winning the sprint today."

As a consolation prize, D'hoore took over the lead of the UCI Women's WorldTour classification ahead of the Tour of Flanders next Sunday, April 1.

Listen to Bastianelli speak about her victory in the latest Voxwomen video below.

Your 2018 winner of the 5th round of the @UCI_WWT, @GentWevelgem, is former road race world champion@martabasti @CipolliniTeam

Full Results

2018 Women's WorldTour ranking after Gent-Wevelgem - Brief results