Armitstead wins Trofeo Alfredo Binda World Cup

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Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda World Cup in Cittiglio, Italy, on Sunday. The Briton won a breakaway sprint to the line ahead of Rabo-Liv teammates, world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Anna van der Breggen.

With the sprinters of the women’s peloton riding Gent-Wevelgem in Belgium, the climbers and classics types were in the Varese hills for the second round of the World Cup, and the 40th edition of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, for a race full of attacks and suspense right up to the finish-line.

The 123.7km race started on the shores of Lake Maggiore, with a 17km run-in to Cittiglio followed by a 37.7km loop with the steep Cunardo climb before returning to Cittiglio for four laps of a 17.1km loop with a short, sharp climb at Orino followed by a difficult descent starting the 8km run-in to the line.

After they missed the break in the first World Cup, the Boels Rental Ronde van Drenthe, Alé Cipollini put down an early mark, with Simona Frapporti attacking in the first kilometres, getting caught just before the first climb. At Cunardo it was Boels-Dolmans making the move, Lizzie Armitstead demonstrating her form to take the first GPM points.

The climb ripped the race apart, with 25 riders making it through in front, and then Orica-AIS made their move. The Australian-based team are suffering the loss of last year’s winner Emma Johansson after she broke her collarbone in Cholet-Pays de Loire last week, but Katrin Garfoot showed the team still have ambitions, getting her gap up to a minute as the group behind her swelled and changed with attacks and catches. Crossing the line into the second local lap, her lead was down to 22”, and she sat up to be caught after 25km out solo.

As Armitstead won the second GPM, leading over Orino, the peloton split again, and a group of 13 started the third lap together, watching each other and taking every opportunity to attack. Once again, Orino re-defined the race, and after the penultimate climb, six riders were out together – 2014 Road and 2015 Cyclo-cross World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Rabo-Liv teammate Anna van der Breggen; 2014 Road World Cup series winner Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans); U23 Cross Country MTB World Champion Jolanda Neff (Switzerland); 2013 race winner Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda), and Belorussian Champion Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-SRAM).

At 20km to go the six had 35 seconds, and entering the final lap, Ferrand-Prévot, knowing she had the luxury of a team-mate in the group, attacked, gaining 15 seconds before being caught by Longo Borghini, Armitstead and Van der Breggan just after the final climb, with 8km to go. In the final kilometre, the four were caught again by Neff and Amialiusik, who’d chased furiously to make it back, so it was back to six riders entering the final sprint.

Last year, Armitstead had been caught out when Johansson had started her sprint early, and this year she wasn’t taking any chances, managing the final run-in perfectly to win by a bike-length, with Ferrand-Prévot in second, and Van der Breggen third.

Armitstead had said at the start of the season that all her focus is on the 2016 Olympics, but this win, which gave her the World Cups leader’s jersey, showed she’s got the potential to win a lot more on the way there. And with practically every woman in the peloton targeting next week’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, anything can happen in the World Cup.

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