Vos wins Trofeo Alfredo Binda

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Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv) won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio for the fourth time and now holds the joint record together with Maria Canins - who raced in the 1980s and early 1990s. The wily Dutchwoman held onto a group of favourites that had formed on the final climb and was fastest in the sprint, beating Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla).

“My last victory here was long ago, so I am very happy with this one,” said Vos after the finish. “On the last two laps, Ashleigh went on the attack to make it a hard race, then got me into position for the sprint. That was perfect teamwork.”

The race covered 131.1 km, starting with a 22km stretch from Taino to the finishing town of Cittiglio and one long loop of 38km, which included a climb to Cunardo. Finally, there were four laps of a 17.8km circuit with a short ascent to Casalzuigno, the decisive four-kilometre climb to Orino and a fast, technical descent to the finish.

The first serious breakaway only formed after the Cunardo climb. Tayler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo) held an advantage of up to 45 seconds but was caught again on the first time up the Casalzuigno climb that split the peloton into several groups. On the Orino ascent, Grace Brown (Mitchelton-Scott) went solo and increased her gap in the descent. With three laps to go, Brown was 25 seconds ahead of lone chaser Leah Thomas (Bigla) and 45 seconds ahead of the peloton.

Mitchelton-Scott and Canyon-SRAM drove the peloton, and Brown was caught just after the Orino climb. Swiss champion Jolanda Neff (Trek-Segafredo) used her mountain bike skills to attack in the descent but did not get away for long, and a peloton of about 50 riders went out on the penultimate lap together.

Several attacks kept the pace high into the Orino climb where an attack by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) finally split the peloton with 26km to go, forming a front group of 12 riders.

The next group was able to come back on the downhill, and Thomas made another move. When she had been brought back at the start of the final lap, largely due to the work of Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM) and Malgorzata Jasinska (Movistar Team), Demi Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenburg) countered and was let go.

In her first UCI Women’s WorldTour race, the young Dutch climber built a lead of more than 40 seconds. She was eventually caught on the lower slopes of the Orino climb when Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacked, followed by Moolman-Pasio, Vos, Spratt, and Uttrup Ludwig. A group of eight riders formed, also including Erica Magnaldi (WNT-Rotor), Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini), and Anastasia Chursina (née Iakovenko, BTC City Ljubljana).

Uttrup Ludwig launched three attacks on the final kilometre of the climb and on the descent in order to whittle down the group more. Spratt tried the same in the descent, but neither was successful as Vos closed them down immediately.

Following the descent, Chursina attacked with 2.5km to go and briefly got a gap before Moolman-Pasio took up the chase, catching the Russian 1.4km from the line. Meanwhile, the peloton with several strong sprinters was only eight seconds behind the front group and coming up quickly.

Moolman-Pasio led the group onto the finishing straight where her teammate Vos launched her trademark sprint and easily held off the rest while the best sprinters passed the last of the favourites’ group shortly before the line.

Despite skipping the Trofeo Binda, Marta Bastianelli (Team Virtu Cycling) defended her lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour ranking, though Vos is now only ten points behind the Italian. Bastianelli’s teammate Bertizzolo finished 35th and defended her lead in the youth classification. The UCI Women’s WorldTour continues Thursday with the Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne one-day race.

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