Elisa Balsamo wins Gent-Wevelgem Women in bunch sprint

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Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) has continued her winning streak, sprinting to victory in the women's Gent-Wevelgem. 

After a last breakaway attempt by Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) was reeled in just before the flamme rouge, the Italian world champion was the fastest in the sprint, coming off the wheel of Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) to beat Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma), who took second, and Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ceratizit-WNT), who finished third.

“It was a very hard race, and there were a lot of attacks. We decided to go for the sprint after the last Kemmelberg, and my team did a great job closing everything down. Ellen, Elisa, and Shirin were so, so strong, I really want to thank them and the whole team,” said Balsamo.

After three victories within a week, Balsamo has to be one of the favourites for next weekend’s Tour of Flanders, but she was noncommittal, enjoying the current success.

“Gent-Wevelgem is my favourite race; it is a dream come true. I am really, really happy. Now I have a week to rest, then I will think about Flanders,” she finished.

How it unfolded

The 159-kilometre race started at the Menin Gate in Ypres. Soon after the flag was dropped, Anne van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Gulnaz Khatuntseva (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad) attacked to form the break of the day. They built an advantage of 3:30, but the peloton closed the gap as the race progressed and caught them just before the start of the live broadcast at 65km to go.

Entering the hill zone with seven climbs, including two ascents of the Kemmelberg, one each from the Belvedère and the Ossuaire sides – the latter a premiere in the women’s race – riders started to attack.

Kopecky, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Liane Lippert (Team DSM) rode away between the Baneberg and Monteberg and just stayed ahead on the first Kemmelberg ascent. After the downhill, they were joined by Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx), and Coryn Labecki (Team Jumbo-Visma).

A crash with 48km to go brought down Lourdes Oyarbide (Movistar Team) and pre-race favourite Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM). Although Wiebes got back up again, she eventually had to abandon the race.

Trek-Segafredo led the chase in the peloton and reeled in the front group with 44km to go. On the second time up the Baneberg, Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Team SD Worx), Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ), Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), and Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura) unsuccessfully tried to get away, and a large group entered the Kemmelberg, the last climb of the race.

Brown powered away on the steep, cobbled climb, and after the descent, Christine Majerus (Team SD Worx) and Longo Borghini bridged to her, with a larger group soon closing the gap, too. 

The last 30 kilometres saw a flurry of attacks as especially Team SD Worx tried to spoil a bunch sprint, with Van den Broek-Blaak, Reusser, and Elena Cecchini taking turns to attack, often joined by riders from other teams. However, none of these moves lasted for longer than a few seconds as the peloton was attentive and closed them down quickly.

With 12 kilometres remaining to the line, the peloton split in two, with the first group including Cecchini, Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM), Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT), Cavalli, Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), Labecki, Valerie Demey (Liv Racing Xstra), Niewiadoma, Rachel Neylan (Cofidis), Bertizzolo, Julie Van de Velde (Plantur-Pura), and Sara Poidevin (EF-TIBCO-SVB). Majerus managed to bridge the small gap to the front at the 10-kilometre mark, and Van Dijk was called back to the second group a little bit later to help in the chase.

The European champion brought the second group back with 7.6 km to go, and although attacks immediately started again, nobody could get away until Brown made her move 3.5km from the line. Trek-Segafredo and Team Jumbo-Visma worked hard to chase down the Australian and eventually caught her just before the flamme rouge. 

In the sprint, Balsamo was unbeatable for the third time in a row, further extending her lead in the Women’s WorldTour ranking. With a 15th place, Georgi took the lead in the Women’s WorldTour U23 ranking.