Bastianelli wins Ronde van Drenthe

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Marta Bastianelli (Team Virtu Cycling) won the Ronde van Drenthe beating Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) and Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) in a three-way sprint. Bastianelli also takes the lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour. 

Van Dijk sparked the race-winning move when she attacked after the final stretch of cobbles. The Dutchwoman spent a number of kilometres alone before she was joined by Blaak and Bastianelli, and the three worked together to hold off the chasing group behind.

The gap was small, but the trio had done enough to hold the chasers off and contest the victory between themselves. Blaak tried to take the sprint from behind, but Bastianelli was quick to react to her and didn’t allow her to pass, beating her by a slim margin on the line.

How it happened

At 165.7 km (plus a five-kilometre neutral zone), the Ronde van Drenthe was the longest UCI Women’s WorldTour race ever. One cobblestone section had been struck from the course due to mud and rain, but this still left 22.2 km of rough cobbles in six separate sections plus three ascents of the remodelled VAM-berg. The steep climb up a landfill site now also includes 200 metres of cobbles.

Rain and wind also left their mark on the race. The first hour was raced in the pouring rain, leading to several crashes and punctures, but the sun came out later on. This and the first passage of the VAM-berg after 22 km split the peloton into five groups, the first two of which came together just before the opening cobblestone section to form a peloton of about forty riders.

Maria Vittoria Sperotto (Bigla) attacked from this group after the fourth cobblestone section, with 91 km still to go, and built an advantage of up to 1:40 minutes. Sperotto was caught again when echelons formed in the crosswinds leading up to the second passage of the VAM-berg.

Grace Brown (Mitchelton-Scott) attacked from the leading group of sixteen riders on the steep, cobbled slopes. The Australian had a 30-second gap at the final passage of the VAM-berg with 51 km to go, winning her the special mountain prize. Behind Brown, two groups had come together to form a peloton of some 25 riders, but nobody took charge of the chase. Brown’s advantage grew to almost two minutes as she entered the penultimate cobblestone section with 25 km to go.

The rough, round cobbles were caked with mud after several days of rain, and Brown’s efforts began to take a toll on her. She came out of the 5.6 km of continuous cobbles (and mud) 1:15 minutes ahead of the chasing group, and her advantage decreased further in the headwind that followed. Brown was in sight of the chasers when she inadvertently took a wrong turn at a roundabout and was caught.

Boels Dolmans forced echelons and dropped several of the sprinters from the first group, and Blaak led the remaining twelve riders onto and through the final cobblestone section with 12 km left to race. Van Dijk attacked when the group reached asphalt with just over nine km to go and got a small gap as the other riders hesitated.

The former world time trial champion settled into an aerodynamic position and powered on while the group fell apart behind her. Blaak and Bastianelli were less than 10 seconds behind Van Dijk, but as Bastianelli did not contribute to the chase, they could not close the gap at first.

Eventually, Bastianelli started taking turns with Blaak, and they caught up with Van Dijk with four kilometres to go. Van Dijk tried a final attack but could not get away, and the trio entered the final kilometre together. Bastianelli was forced to lead the group onto the finishing straight as the two other riders stayed on her wheel, and Blaak opened the sprint. While Van Dijk did not contest the sprint and finished third, Bastianelli countered Blaak’s acceleration and could narrowly keep the Dutch champion behind herself to win.

Amy Pieters (Boels Dolmans) beat Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal) for fourth place in the sprint of the next group 20 seconds later.

Following her fourth place in the Strade Bianche, European champion Bastianelli is now the leader of the UCI Women’s WorldTour. Bastianelli’s teammate Sofia Bertizzolo was the best-placed U23 rider in 33rd place and takes the lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour youth ranking that she won last year. The next race in the series is the Trofeo Alfredo Binda on Saturday 23 April.

Results