Blaak wins Le Samyn des Dames

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Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) won the bunch sprint that decided the Le Samyn des Dames race after a six-rider attack was reeled back in the final kilometres.

Blaak beat Anna van der Breggan (Rabo Liv Women), with last year’s winner Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), completing the podium. It is the first victory of the season for Blaak, who finished fourth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last weekend, and the seventh win for her Boels Dolmans team.

The main peloton split into two groups after the race entered the finishing circuits with the pace stringing the bunch out in one long line. It came together again but six riders went clear with just over 20 kilometres remaining. The strong leading group consisted of Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans), Chloe Hosking (Wiggle-Honda), Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Women) and Amy Pieters (Liv-Plantur).

The six worked well together to build a lead of a minute but the peloton had their number. In an exciting run to the line, their gap was brought down to a mere eight seconds with five kilometres remaining. The held the peloton off a little longer but were eventually caught two kilometres later.

"Last Saturday we were very strong as a team in the Omloop Het NIeuwsblad, it was a shame we could not win that race. That's why we really wanted this victory," said Blaak, who joined the team having spent 2014 with Specialized - Lululemon. "It's incredible how good we are doing at this moment, everybody is racing very strong. It didn't take any time at all to fit in with this riders."

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