Fenix-Deceuninck's Julie De Wilde opened the throttle with 200 metres to go and held on for the victory Wednesday at Ixina GP Oetingen p/b Lotto in a reduced bunch of 13 riders.
Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) finished on the Belgian's wheel for second, while Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) took third.
With 2.7km to go on the final ascent of Zavelberg, Fenix-Deceuninck had four riders in the lead group, which also included UAE Team ADQ, SD Worx-Protime and Cofidis. Not present in the group was Charlotte Kool (Picnic-PostNL), who crashed on a cobbled section a few kilometres before.
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In a fifth edition, the Belgian race was upgraded to UCI 1.Pro this year and 12 Women's WorldTour teams packed the field that took on 128km from Sint-Pieters-Leeuw to six finish circuits in Oetingen.
Despite several attacks flying at the start of the race, the peloton left any prospective breakaway riders no room to manoeuvre during the contest. As a result, the main group held together as the riders hit the early cobblestone sectors and onto the first lap of the finishing circuit, 80km from the line.
A brief split in the peloton 10km later was quickly undone, with UAE Team ADQ swiftly taking control of the situation shortly afterwards on the second of the seven laps.
Two short cobbled sectors and the 500-metre, 7% climb of the Zavelberg provoked further brief splits in the peloton at 50km and 40km to go as Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto and Fenix-Deceuninck pulled things along – in addition to a testing move from Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The moves weren’t enough to break things up permanently, though there was some slimming out in the group as the attrition struck. A mix of teams pulled at the front, though Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto) wouldn’t be there for the final 20km thanks to a crash.
The big split came on the penultimate climb of the Zavelberg heading towards the final lap, with around 30 riders breaking away off the front.
Fenix-Deceuninck took over at the front of the road heading into the final 10km, while other teams including Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Uno-X Mobility also had multiple riders in the move.
The riders hit the final two cobbled sectors at 5km to go, with Visma and Fenix leading from the front. A crash on the first of the two saw Kool among those hitting the deck, with the Dutchwoman ruled out of contesting the finish as a result.
In the final run towards the finish, the strength of three teammates to support De Wilde was evident as she scored her second victory of the season.
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