Marta Bastianelli wins Le Samyn des Dames 2023

Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) won Le Samyn des Dames after she beat Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) in a two-up sprint in Dour. Vittoria Guazzini (FDJ-Suez) completed an all-Italian podium by leading the chasing group across the line.

The winning move took shape on the final cobbled sector of the Rue de Belle Vue with 3km remaining, where Bastianelli hit the front with a sustained show of force. Confalonieri was the only rider to match her pace, and the Italian pairing came off the cobbles with a winning advantage over the splintered group behind. Once off the cobbles, Confalonieri led all the way to the finishing straight to ensure the duo stayed clear, preferring to keep pushing the pace rather than try to force Bastianelli to take some turns on the front.

There was an air of inevitability about the sprint that followed, as Bastianelli rose from the saddle with 150m to go and delivered a crisp acceleration to claim the honours. She explained afterwards that she had sat on as she was unsure of the position of her team’s designated sprinter, Chiara Consonni.

“I’m not going that well, but I followed the plan of the team, which was to attack on the last part of the cobblestones and then a great rider came with me in Maria Giulia,” Bastianlli said. “I am sorry I didn’t help her much, but I knew that I had a sprinter behind, and I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t have the time gap, so I didn’t know what was happening and whether to push or not to push.”

In the end, Bastianelli’s experience and finishing speed carried her to yet another victory on Belgian roads in what is set to be the final season of her professional career. “Belgium is my second home, I think,” she said.

For Confalonieri, the disappointment at missing out on victory was tempered by the quality of her performance. She was the only rider to match Bastianelli on the rough cobbles of the Rue de Belle Vue and she proceeded to drag the former world and European champion all the way to the line.

“We were a strong couple, I just wished she could have taken a couple of pulls,” said Confalonieri. “It was a hectic race, but it’s good to start the Classics with a podium.”

The 99km-long race was an attritional affair, with the selection coming largely from the back of the race rather than the front, with AG Insurance-Soudal QuickStep and Uno-X among the teams looking to whittle down the peloton.

FDJ-Suez would be the main aggressors on the final lap of the 26km finishing circuit, beginning their onslaught with a show of force from Jade Wiel on the Côte de la Roquette. Wiel would attack twice more in the finale, while her teammate Gladys Verhulst would briefly bring a dangerous move clear on the Côte des Nonettes with 8km remaining.

Each effort reduced the peloton a little further, while a crash with 7km to go eliminated a number of contenders, including Arianna Fidanza (Ceratizit-WNT) and Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health).

A reduced peloton hit the final sector of cobbles on the Rue de Belle Vue, where Bastianelli sparked the decisive move, before Confalonieri ensured it stayed clear. The chasers could see the break in the finishing straight but they were racing for third place, with Guazzini beating Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Zaaf) and Lieke Nooijen (Parkhotel) to the line.

Guazzini already placed third at Le Samyn last year, when she was part of a break that was swept up by the chasing bunch in the finishing sprint. The roles were reversed this time out, but she fell short of catching the leaders in Dour.

“I have a big regret from last year. I was in their position, and I gambled a bit – I didn’t start my sprint early enough and the bunch came back,” Guazzini said. “This time, the bunch didn’t come back, and I was sprinting for third. But that’s cycling.”