9 years after she first gained the race, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) returned to the highest step of the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, this time resplendent within the Italian tricolore.
The 32-year-old, who struggled with damage and sickness final season, seemed again to her finest, sprinting past Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-Sram) within the closing meters to seal the win for Lidl-Trek.
Longo Borghini was arrange within the finale by her team-mate, Shirin van Anrooij, who broke free with 21km to go, however was caught and turned selflessly to assist the Italian. The Dutchwoman’s reward was the ultimate podium place, her finest Monument consequence up to now.
“It is simply wonderful,” Longo Borghini mentioned afterwards. “Shirin was a motorcycle. In the long run, we may be proud. First and third in a race like this can be a big group efficiency.”
Lidl-Trek’s success got here on the expense of SD Worx-Protime, whose chief Lotte Kopecky, the winner of the earlier two editions, struggled to remain in entrance. On the Koppenberg, with 45km to go, the world champion was one in every of quite a lot of riders who needed to dismount and stroll, so robust was the rain-soaked climb.
“My again wheel was slipping,” mentioned Longo Borghini. “I knew from doing a little mountain bike within the winter that I wanted to maintain the traction. I simply took my very own pace, and I noticed that Kopecky was not there and we might do it.”
The victory, then, seemed poised for Van Anrooij, who led solo onto the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg, the ultimate two climbs. Over the crest of the latter, Longo Borghini attacked with Niewiadoma, closing the hole to her team-mate and dealing together with her in direction of the road.
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“This was a group transfer,” the Italian defined. It was one which paid off, too.
The way it occurred
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
A crash after simply 10km, involving a handful of the important thing riders, shook the race up early on Sunday afternoon. The pile-up introduced an abrupt finish to the day for former Tour of Flanders champion Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) and Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-Protime), who each hit their heads and had been pressured to desert. Deignan was later recognized with a damaged arm, Reusser with a damaged jaw.
Race favorite Kopecky was additionally held up by the crash, however didn’t come down. Nonetheless, having averted the early scrape, misfortune would come for the world champion.
On the Koppenberg, the seventh of 12 hellingen climbs, she was pressured to climb off her bike and push, sufferer to the slippery double-figure gradients. The Belgian was then distanced shortly afterwards, falling over 30 seconds behind the race leaders, and struggling to maintain the tempo within the chasing group.
Forward, her SD Worx-Protime team-mate Demi Vollering additionally turned unstuck. When Niewiadoma launched a attribute long-range assault, 27km from the road, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift champion struggled to chase.
The entrance of the race was then blown aside by Van Anrooij. The diminutive Dutchwoman, identified for her cyclo-cross talents, stormed clear with 21km to go and put daylight into her rivals on the method to the Oude Kwaremont. As soon as there, she rode solo up the 2km slog, battling horizontal rain, cheered on by the plenty. Fellow cyclo-cross stars Puck Pieterse (Fenix Deceuninck) and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Crew ADQ) chased in tandem pursuit.
Van Anrooij took a slender 16-second benefit into the foot of the Paterberg, the ultimate climb of the day. By the highest, her hole was solely a handful of seconds. Then it was gone. The 22-year-old was joined on the run-in to Oudenaarde by her team-mate Elisa Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma, and the trio started swapping via turns.
With the end line simply 200m earlier than them, Van Anrooij opened her dash first. The transfer pressured Niewiadoma to launch hers too, permitting Longo Borghini to come back out of the Polish rider’s slipstream and around her on the road. “We all know that our power is within the group,” the Italian mentioned afterwards. “I used to be only a child after I gained the race again in 2015. I believe I can realise it a bit extra, I am extra acutely aware of what I have been attaining.”
Many anticipated the tactical masterclass would come from SD Worx-Protime, essentially the most dominant group of current years. As an alternative, the victory was stamped with the Lidl-Trek seal.
Outcomes
Tour of Flanders 2024: Antwerp > Oudenaarde (163km)
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 4-16-04
2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-Sram
3. Shirin van Anrooij (Ned) Lidl-Trek, each at identical time
4. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +9s
5. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
6. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
7. Silvia Persico (Ita) UAE Crew ADQ, all at identical time
8. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +15s
9. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jaco, +1-40
10. Karlijn Swinkels (Ned) UAE Crew ADQ, at identical time
