Bastianelli wins women's Tour of Flanders

Marta Bastianelli (Team Virtu Cycling) won the women's Tour of Flanders in a sprint of three, beating Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla).

"It was an incredible race," Bastianelli said in a post-race flash interview. "I'm really happy about this incredible result. It was a very hard race but I pulled it off.

"I've got a great team. I attacked on the Kwaremont as they told me to do. Today we had Bjarne Riis in the team car and so I couldn't make any mistakes. I kept going on the Paterberg and kept working all the way to the finish. I got on Van Vleuten's wheel and gave it everything to pull off the win.

"I've won some big races but this is a very, very important one for me."

A group of four formed on the Oude Kwaremont, however, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) was dropped on the Paterberg, leaving three riders in front. The trio of Bastianelli, Van Vleuten and Uttrup Ludwig held off a chasing group on the run-in to the finish.

How it unfolded

With four cobblestone sections and ten hills, four of them cobbled, on 159.2km, and big crowds at the roadside, the Tour of Flanders is arguably the most prestigious classic on the women's calendar. The first hours of the race were dominated by a seven-rider breakaway.

Ilaria Sanguineti (Valcar Cylance), Sévérine Éraud (Doltcini-Van Eyck), Giulia Marchesini (Aromitalia-Basso Bikes-Vaiano), Kylie Waterreus (Health Mate-Cyclelive), Kseniya Dobrynina (Servetto-Piumate-Beltrami TSA), Silvia Valsecchi (BePink), and Chanella Stougje (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) were given an unusually large advantage for a women's race and were three minutes ahead at one point.

The Muur van Geraardsbergen broke up the break, and the chase work by the peloton reeled in the escapees in on the Kanarieberg with 46km to go. Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) countered but could not get away. However, the speed over the climb broke up the race that was also marred by crashes and punctures.

Niewiadoma attacked on the Hotond climb and was followed by Uttrup Ludwig and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) but did not get away. The same fate befell Gracie Elvin (Mitchelton-Scott) and Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM) who tried next, so it was a group of about 30 riders hitting the penultimate climb, the Oude Kwaremont, with 18km to go.

Bastianelli opened proceedings with an attack on the cobbles and attacked once more when she was reeled in, bringing Uttrup Ludwig, Van Vleuten, Niewiadoma, and Vos with her. Vos then punctured out of the front group while Uttrup Ludwig went solo over the top of the climb. Van Vleuten brought Bastianelli and Niewiadoma back to the Dane, and the quartet entered the Paterberg together. An acceleration by Van Vleuten dropped Niewiadoma while the other two could stay with the Dutchwoman.

After the Paterberg, the leading trio was 28 seconds ahead of a chase group with Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans), Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo), Sofia Bertizzolo (Team Virtu Cycling), and Niewiadoma.

Van Vleuten made a final move on the flat run-in to the finish in Oudenaarde. Bastianelli was quick to close the gap, though, and after that they rode to the finish together. The Italian easily won the sprint ahead of Van Vleuten and Uttrup Ludwig. Sofia Bertizzolo (Team Virtu Cycling) led home the second group seven seconds later.

With the victory, Bastianelli extended her lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour ranking, Bertizzolo reconquered the lead in the youth ranking.

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