Vos wins Postnord Vargarda West Sweden Road Race

Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) used her power, guile and timing to perfection, jumping around the Team Sunweb lead-out in the final corner to take the victory in the PostNord Vårgårda WestSweden Road Race. Vos' well-timed effort meant that she had time to celebrate on the line as Wiggle High5's Kirsten Wild beat defending champion Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla) in the sprint for second.

After four laps of an eleven-kilometre circuit in and around Vårgårda with the one-kilometre ascent of Hägrungabakken, the peloton went out on a big loop of 53 kilometres that included four gravel sections of between 2.6 and 3.6 kilometres each as well as a number of hills. The final consisted of another four laps of the 11 km circuit before finishing in the centre of Vårgårda.

Nobody had been able to get away on the first four laps. Margarita Victorita Garcia (Movistar Team) attacked solo with 84 km to go and built a gap of up to 45 seconds, but was caught by an elite trio of Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Cervélo-Bigla), and Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) on the climb into the second gravel section nine kilometres later. The peloton quickly reeled in this dangerous group.

There were several short-lived attacks on the next 20 kilometres as well as a crash for Elena Pirrone (Astana Women's Team) and Vos who went off the berm and into the ferns but were soon back in the peloton. Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans), Vos, Uttrup Ludwig, Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini), Silvia Persico (Valcar PBM), and Gracie Elvin (Mitchelton-Scott) attacked on the final gravel section with 47 km to go but were caught when the race entered the last four laps of the finishing circuit.

After a quiet first lap, van der Breggen made her move through a corner with 31km to go and was joined by Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM), Alexandra Manly (Mitchelton-Scott), Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb), Anna Trevisi (Alé Cipollini), and eventually Eva Buurman (Trek-Drops). Brand went solo from this group, but they were all caught on the hill.

Numerous counter-attacks over the top and into the descent did not get away but kept the pace high into the penultimate lap. Van der Breggen went on the offensive again, this time with Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb), and they were joined by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla), Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans), and Worrack. Van der Breggen attacked one more time with Mackaij on her wheel before dropping the Sunweb rider on Hägrungabakken.

Blaak and Danielle Rowe reeled in the rest of the group, but van der Breggen increased her advantage on the fast descent and went into the final lap with a 15-second gap. Team Sunweb led the chase, Moolman-Pasio did a big turn on the hill, and Rowe closed the gap to van der Breggen in the descent with five kilometres to go.

On the run-in to Vårgårda, everybody was getting ready for the sprint, and Team Sunweb were at the front with 1000 metres to go, leading out Coryn Rivera. From third position, Vos accelerated into the final corner, took the perfect line through the turn and had a small gap on the rest with 300 metres to go. Lotta Lepistö had taken the inside line, but couldn't follow the Dutchwoman who took her third win in the Swedish race. Kirsten Wild just pipped the Finnish champion on the line to take second place.

Anna van der Breggen keeps the lead in the UCI Women's WorldTour ahead of the next round, the Ladies Tour of Norway TTT on 16 August followed by the namesake stage race on 17-19 August.

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