Longo Borghini wins Tour of Flanders World Cup

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Elisa Longo-Borghini (Wiggle Honda) won the Tour of Flanders World Cup in a long solo breakaway, holding on to a one-minute lead over her nearest chasers. The Italian made her break from the peloton with about 20 kilometers to go and never looked back. Her teammate Jolien D'hoore finished second and Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Women) third.

"This is a dream. I am always the slowest in a break, so I had to go alone," said the overjoyed winner after the stage. "Trust your instincts."

This third race in the Women's World Cup covered 144.9 kilometers with 10 Hellingen and five cobblestone sections. 152 riders took to the start in the sunshine in Oudenaarde.

The peloton stayed together a long time, but eventually the attacks and the difficulty of the course caused a break in the field as they neared Horebeke at 57.5 km, with those in the second group quickly falling several minutes back. Another break saw about 30 women off the front, with about a minute on the second group. The third and trailing group faded away.

Roxane Kneteman (Rabo Liv Women) attacked on Leberg. She never had much of a lead and was caught again at the top of the Berendries. Shortly thereafter the big teams sent riders out, with a group of five forming – only to be caught again before the Valkenberg.

And then it was time for the big names to give it a go: last year’s winner Ellen Van Dijk (Boels-Dolman),Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolman), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabo Liv Women), Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle Honda), Mayuko Hagiwara (Wiggle Honda), Alena Amialiusik (Velocio), Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) took off. Simona Frapporti (Ale Cippolini), Andrea Dvorak (Twenty 16), and Janneke Ensing (Parkhotel Valkenburg) gave chase, and caught up. But it was not to be, and with 40km to go, they were back in the pack.

Van Vleuten wasn’t ready to give up and took off again, gaining a lead of 20 seconds before being caught again at the foot of the Kanarieberg.

The closer the finish came, the more nervous the field became. Longo Borghini and Trixi Worrack (Velocio-SRAM) jumped with 20 km to go, but the German soon faded back into the field. Longo Borghini showed her strength and maintained a 45-60 second lead.

That put the pressure on Boels-Dolmans, who were hoping for a repeat win for Ellen Van Dijk. Ironically, the Dutch woman had won the race last year in a similar 30 kilometer solo breakaway.

Longo Borghini took about a minute lead into the final 15 km. Eight riders, including world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Rabo Liv Women) made a counter-attack. The gap held as the leader hit the 10 km marker, followed by Ferrand-Prevot, Armitstead (Boels-Dolman), Van Vleuten, van der Breggen, and Ashleigh Moolman-Passio (Bigla).

The chase was fast and furious but futile. The Italian took a minute lead into the final 5 km, with another chase group some 30 seconds further back.

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