Chantal van den Broek-Blaak wins Le Samyn des Dames

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Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak (Boels Dolmans) stormed to victory at Le Samyn des Dames on Wednesday after a long solo break. The win marked her third win in the race since 2015.

While Van den Broek-Blaak dominated, spending over 50 kilometres on her own out front, the race for second was a far tenser affair with a strong five-rider group matching each other with wave after wave of attacks until the closing stages.

However, they could not be separated before the slightly uphill finish before Van den Broek-Blaak's teammate Christine Majerus won the sprint to make it a 1-2 for the Dutch team. Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal) rounded out the podium.

"This is definitely a race that suits me, yes," said Van den Broek-Blaak after the finish. "It was like a time trial today, it was pretty long. We wanted to play the game as a team, and to have as many numbers as possible in the front, and then try to attack.

"I was gone, alone and I thought that I had to try and continue. If they came from behind I would still have my teammates but they didn’t come. We just wanted to race and it didn’t matter for us who was winning.

"I race next weekend at Strade and then the weekend after at Drenthe. I have one win now so there’s less pressure and I’d like to enjoy this."

How it unfolded

After the events of the opening weekend – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad won by world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) and Omloop van het Hagalend won by Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) – the mid-week Le Samyn des Dames brought a slightly shorter mid-week race for the women’s peloton.

It is one of the shorter of all the spring one-day races at 94.9km but with punchy cobbled sections through the Henegouwen region; Vert Pignon, La Roquette, Ch de Wiheries, Core de Nonettes and at Rue Belle Vue.

There were also three climbs at Grand Place Quaregnon (26.6km), Cote de Calvaire (35.5km), and at Cote de la Roquette (53.6km).  

The field completed one large loop followed by three finish circuits that are 25km each with an intermediate sprint on the first two passages through the finish line in Dour.

Several of the top-level WorldTeams opted to skip the race as they prepare for next weekend’s second round of the Women’s WorldTour at Strade Bianche, but there were two WorldTeams on the start line for Le Samym with Movistar and Trek-Segafredo.

It was number one ranked team in the world, Continental squad, Boels Dolmans that lined-up with defending champion Van de Bos and two-time race winner Van den Broek-Blaak (2015-16) as the team to beat.

The strong winds caused splits in the field early on and a group of 14 riders escaped that included three Boels Dolmans; Van den Broek-Blaak, Van den Bos and Christine Majerus.

With 57km to go, after Cote de la Roquette, Van den Broek-Blaak attacked the breakaway and pushed her solo lead on each of the finishing circuits.

A five-rider chase group formed with Van Dijk, Kopecky, Biannic joined by Van den Broek-Blaak’s teammates Majerus and Van den Bos.

Van den Broek-Blaak powered to the finish line with the victory with enough time to turn around and watch her teammate Majerus win the chase-group sprint for second place.

Results