Wiebes sprints to second Scheldeprijs Women victory

Lorena Wiebes won the Scheldeprijs women’s race for a second consecutive year, again using her powerful sprint to distance her rivals in the closing bunch sprint.

The Team DSM rider was well-protected in the final kilometres after the early break was caught and then she started her sprint early. She wisely dived left as the road turned left and surged to victory along the barriers.

Chiara Consonni (Valcar-Travel & Service) finished second in the sprint, with fellow Italian Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing Xstra) taking third.

The win was Wiebes’ 40th career victory, and the fourth of the 2022 season, following wins at the GP Oetingen, Ronde van Drenthe, and Nokere Koerse.

“We hoped for echelons today but the wind was not perfect to break it up in this way. A group of three went in the break early and we controlled it with Esmée [Peperkamp] behind. At all the important points today we were in good position," Wiebes said.

“Then in the final lap Esmée, Elise [Uijen] and Léa [Curinier] did everything to close the gap after which Megan [Jastrab] did a great job to position Charlotte [Kool] and I into the final kilometres. I followed Charlotte in the last part, made a small mistake in the final straight but found her again and was able to finish off the teamwork. I’m happy to take this team win."

How it unfolded

The women’s Scheldeprijs is the only event on Flanders Classics’ spring calendar that remains at a 1.1-level to allow opportunities for the second-tier women’s teams to secure spots on the starting line.

Shorter than the previous near-160km routes that the women’s peloton have been racing on the Women’s WorldTour, Scheldeprijs was 138km that started and finished in Schoten, and offered three 17km local finishing circuits that catered to a bunch sprint. The pan-flat course also included five cobblestone segments with the first across Stint Jabsestenweg, and the final four across Broekstraat located on the local circuits.

A three-rider breakaway set of early in the race that included Megan Armitage (IBCT), Abi Smith (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) and Simone Boilard (St Michel-Auber93). The trio stretched their gap out to a maximum of two minutes but the day was always meant for the powerful sprinters in the field, and their teams kept the breakaway at a more manageable one minute with 70km remaining.

The breakaway made it onto the local circuits but the gap was reduced to 30 seconds as Team DSM set a quick pace for their sprinter and defending champion Wiebes, back in the main field inside 25km to the finish.

Smith attacked her breakaway companions with 8km to go, but Team DSM gauged their efforts with perfect timing and caught her inside the last 5km.

A crash inside the last kilometres of the race saw several riders go down but many of the sprinters were still in position for a bunch sprint.

Valcar-Travel & Service started their lead-out first for Consonni but Team DSM took over in the final few hundred metres with Wiebes latching onto the wheel of teammate Charlotte Kool. Wiebes then launched her sprint inside the last 100 metres to take a commanding victory in Schoten.