Pieters wins Ronde van Drenthe

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Dutchwoman Amy Pieters continued the Women's WorldTour winning streak for Boels Dolmans when she won the sprint of some 30 riders after a hard-fought race at the Ronde van Drenthe. Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM) finished second and Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini) was third. Strade Bianche winner Anna van der Breggen remains the UCI Women's WorldTour leader due to her 21st place.

A peloton of 134 riders from 23 teams started the 157km race that included several cobblestone sections, four ascents of the short-but-steep VAM-berg, and wind-exposed roads. Louise Norman Hansen (Team Virtu Cycling) and Annelies Dom (Lotto Soudal Ladies) got away in the first kilometres, but their breakaway was cut short after 20 km when they were misled by a police motorbike.

The cobblestone sections began soon afterwards, featuring the round, often slippery cobbles special to Drenthe. Racing single-file across the cobbles at high speed, the peloton split into several small groups. The gaps were small, and the groups merged and split again a number of times.

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Things got back together after the sixth cobblestone section on the way to the VAM-berg. But the 380-metre, 9 per cent climb up a landfill site again split the race into four groups that chased each other around the 7km circuit around the climb. On the final ascent Anouska Koster (WaowDeals) attacked; she was joined by Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) and Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott) on the descent, but the trio was reeled in quickly.

Two of the three remaining cobblestone sections were cut as they were in too bad a shape to be raced, shortening the race by about three kilometres. Margarita Victoria Garcia (Movistar Team Women) went solo and kept a slender advantage for some time before she too was caught. A crash in a slippery turn brought down world champion Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) who eventually abandoned, and in the confusion after the crash Mitchelton-Scott put the hammer down into the last cobblestone section.

On the last 30 kilometres, there were attacks or feints by many riders at the front of the peloton, trying to get away in smaller moves or just to make the race hard to tire the sprinters. The final 15 km on two laps of a finishing circuit in Hoogeveen were particularly hard with an almost-continuous flurry of attacks. Gracie Elvin (Mitchelton-Scott) was prominent in closing down a number of moves. Then the Australian went on the attack herself, opened a small gap of less than 10 seconds, but was caught at the start of the final lap.

Although there was no shortage of attacks on the final lap, including a dangerous move by Pieters, Kirsten Wild (Wiggle High5), Lisa Brennauer (Wiggle High5), Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb, and Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini), the race eventually came down to a sprint. A crash with three kilometres to go took out Lotta Lepistö (Cervélo-Bigla), and going into the final turn Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) led out the sprint.

With a tailwind, Pieters launched early, with 350 metres to go. Only Ryan could stay in her wheel, but Pieters held on all the way to the line to take a Dutch home victory. Chloe Hosking came from behind Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) to round out the podium. With a 21st place behind her Boels Dolmans teammate, Anna van der Breggen keeps the lead in the UCI Women's WorldTour classification ahead of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda next Sunday.

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