Blaak wins women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Chantal Blaak brought her Boels-Dolmans team their first victory of the season with a solo victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Marta Basitanelli (Team Virtu Cycling) was among the large chase group behind Blaak, and she sprinted to second place ahead of Jip van den Bos in third, which gave Boels-Dolmans two spots on the podium.

Blaak went solo off the front and raced over the final summit of the Bosberg with a 28-second advantage over a chase group that appeared to lack the organisation needed to catch the current Dutch champion and former world champion.

Among the large chase group were Black’s teammates; world champion Anna van der Breggen and van den Bos (Boels-Dolmans), along with Marta Bastianelli (Virtu Cycling), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC Liv), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), Floortje Mackaij (Sunweb), and Trek-Segafredo teammates Elisa Longo Borghini and Ellen van Dijk.

As the race stretched into the final kilometres, Van Dijk put forth several counter attacks in an attempt to bridge across to Blaak, but the group would not let her go clear and her efforts only served to distance teammate Longo Borghini at times.

With seven kilometres to the finish, Blaak pushed her lead out to 45 seconds and then to 50 seconds a kilometre later, signifying that the chasing riders behind would not catch her. Blaak had twice placed second in previous editions (2016 and 2017) of Omloop Het Nieuwsbald and did not give way to the chasers behind as she saw the victory in her grasp.

How it unfolded

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad kicked off the European classics season for the elite women with the UCI 1.1 one-day race offering the peloton a 123km race from Gent to Ninove. The race included five cobble sectors: Haaghoek (39km), Ruiterstraat (54km), Kerkgate (57km), Jagerij (60km) and Paddestraat (71km).

There were also 10 hills to contend with that included the Leberg (42km), Wolvenberg (54km), Molenberg (66km), Rekelberg (80km), Berendries (84km), Elverenberg-Vossenhol (86km), Tenbosse (91km), Eikenmolen (94km), and the decisive Muur-Kapelmuur (106km) and the final climb over the Bosberg (110km).

Bigla kicked off the race with a solo breakaway in Nicole Hanselmann, who built her lead out of one minute in the opening kilometres of the race. Officials were forced to neutralize the women's race after 35km, however, as they were too close to the back of the elite men's peloton. The elite men's race had started first in the early morning with the elite women's race started under 10 minutes later. 

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad organisers provided a statement on their official Twitter feed regarding the neutralisation of the women's race saying that it was due to the slower speeds of the men's field. "Neutralisation of our women race at railroad crossing in Sint-Denijs-Boekel in #OHNWomen #ohn19 due to a very slow mens race. riders will restart with same timings."

Once the race restarted, Hanselmann approached the cobbles of the Haaghoek with a 15-second lead on the field, while all other chasers were reeled back into the bunch.

The race began to split apart at the halfway point while significant lead groups formed over the Molenberg. Five riders emerged over the top to include Bastianelli, van Vleuten, along with Canyon-SRAM riders Niewiadoma, Ryan and Hannah Barnes. They were soon joined by a larger chase group that included van der Breggen.

The splits among the front of the peloton closed when Blaak launched an attack. She was quickly joined by Niewiadoma and the pair gained a small lead. The advantage didn't stick as the chase group caught up, but Blaak had enough left in the tank to make another attack over the top of the Muur, and this time she was alone in pursuit of her first Omloop victory.

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