Lizzie Armitstead wins Women's Tour of Flanders

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Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) climbed to the top step of the podium on Sunday following a nail-biting finale to the women’s Tour of Flanders. The world champion edged out Emma Johansson (Wiggle High5) by a bike throw to the line in Oudennarde. Two seconds later, Armitstead’s teammate Chantal Blaak won the chase group sprint for third.

“It was a really strange race with just two in the front,” said Armitstead. “We had to commit. I didn’t leave anything for the sprint. Emma’s fast, and I didn’t underestimate her.

“It was a poker game in the end,” she added. “I didn’t have any radio, so I didn’t know what was happening.”

While Armitstead has had an incredible run in the rainbow jersey this spring, her early season wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche and Trofeo Binda were part of her build to Sunday’s iconic show. Each time she’s fielded questions about her 2016 season objectives, she’s given an unwavering response. Her season has been planned around two key objectives: the Tour of Flanders and the 2016 Rio Olympics. With her Flanders victory, Armitstead has proven yet again that she can deliver on the biggest days of the season.

“It’s really special to win, and to win in the rainbow jersey is even more special,” said Armitstead. “It was the perfect day.”

The 2016 edition of the women’s Tour of Flanders, run on the same day and the same roads as the men’s race, covered 141 kilometres, including 10 classified climbs and five categorised cobble sectors. Two riders slipped away from the peloton in the opening 10 kilometres, but their moment of glory was short-lived. The bunch swallowed them up and chased down every early escape attempt that followed.

Thalita de Jong (Rabo-Liv) proved the first rider capable of opening a gap. The cyclocross world champion attacked just beyond the Paddestraat, the fourth of the five cobbled sectors. De Jong’s compatriot Iris Slappendel (UnitedHealthcare) gave chase but was never able to make contact. The bunch was content to allow de Jong to dangle out front until the Kaperij climb, at which point Boels-Dolmans had enough and upped the pace to overtake the lone leader.

“Everyone had their role and everyone did it really well,” Armitstead told Cyclingnews. “Up until the Kanarieberg, I never touched the wind. Christine [Majerus] was taking care of me from the start. She did that really well. I was never out of position, and it made a big difference today.”

Over the Kanarieberg, the peloton split into three main groups. Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) led the front group onto the Kruisberg where she accelerated, furthering the selection. Twenty kilometres from the finish, a 20-strong group reached the foot of the Oude Kwaremont.

“It came over the radio that Ellen [van Dijk] should make the race harder over Oude Kwarement,” noted Armitstead. “The race was still too much together. My plan was to go on the Paterberg, and we needed it to be more aggressive so that I could get away.

“Ellen set a really fierce pace over the Oude Kwarement that sort of brought everyone on their knees,” Armitstead added.

As attrition whittled down the group, defending champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) fired a shot. The Italian’s attack was quickly marked by Armitstead, Johansson and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Rabo-Liv). Johansson accelerated over the Oude Kwaremont and put in another dig on the uphill run-in towards the Paterberg.

The Swedish champion’s second attack proved the race-maker. Armitstead jumped on Johansson’s wheel, and the duo immediately opened up a sizeable gap on a chase group of around 15 riders. While both riders committed to the move, Armitstead was clearly pulling more than her fair share.

“She didn’t give me a single turn into Paterberg, and I thought: ‘I’ll still make this work. I’ll attack her on Paterberg’ and I tried, but I couldn’t get her off my wheel,” explained Armitstead.

The duo crested the Paterberg with an 18-second advantage over a chase group of eight.

“A couple kilometres after the Paterberg, Emma decided to work, and we worked together until the final kilometre,” Armitstead explained.

The leading duo had only 10 seconds when they powered under the flamme rouge. Armitstead had three teammates in her wake; Johansson had one.

Stuck on the front in the run-in to the finish, Armitstead played the waiting game and forced Johansson to open the sprint. Armitstead followed suit, and the duo sprinted for the line side-by-side. Calling on her track background for the bike throw, Armitstead outsprinted Johansson for the win to take out round five of the UCI Women’s WorldTour.

“I needed her to open the sprint before me, and she did,” said Armitstead. “At that point, it’s not about who is fastest, it’s who is freshest. I was tired, and you could see that in my sprint. It was a race all the way to the line.

“I knew in my gut that I had won because I knew my momentum took me over the top of her,” she continued. “Generally you know in that situation, but I didn’t dare risk it. I knew for certain when she congratulated me.

“I’m delighted but it’s also a big relief,” Armitstead added. “I’ve got that win, that career goal done, and now it’s all about shifting focus. It’s a good way to start putting the spring behind me and thinking about Rio.”

With the win at Flanders, Boels-Dolmans remains unbeatable in the UCI Women’s WorldTour series. Armitstead has won rounds one (Strade Bianche), three (Trofeo Binda) and five (Tour of Flanders) and currently leads the series overall ahead of team mat Blaak, who won rounds two (Ronde van Drenthe) and four (Gent Wevelgem).

The secret to their success?

“We train really, really hard, and we have no social life,” said Armitstead.

Evie Stevens, who rode in support of Armitstead today, piped up to add: “We trust each other, and we commit, and we eat a lot of fucking oatmeal.”

The inaugural UCI Women’s WorldTour series continues on 20 April with La Flèche Wallone.

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