Very much a case of mixed emotions on the podium of Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields this afternoon. On a dry, sunny but wind-battered day, Marta Bastianelli took a first World Tour win, after a long and storied career, timing her sprint to perfection to round off a powerful performance by Alé Cipollini.
Jolien D’Hoore (Michelton-Scott) took a frustrated second place, but with Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde in her pocket from last Thursday and the Tour of Flanders to come, she will be able to refocus quickly.
Young German talent Lisa Klein produced another great performance for Canyon-SRAM, a personal breakthrough at WWT level for a team that has made a superb start to the 2018 season.
🎥 „I have no words. It went really well today“, 🥉placed Lisa Klein of @WMNcycling said after stepping onto the podium at a UCI Women‘s WorldTour 🌍 race for the first time in her career at @GentWevelgem. #GWEWomen #UCIWWT pic.twitter.com/J9txJpHvoH
— UCI_WWT (@UCI_WWT) March 25, 2018
How the race unfolded
The first hour of the race saw a flurry of short-lived attacks, and the opening salvo of Baneberg-Lemmelberg-Monteberg failed to cause any major splits. The gravel roads of the ‘Plugstreets’, their inclusion a particular nod of remembrance to the fallen of World War I, began the softening up process which culminated on the second ride up the Kemmelberg.
A small group got away, leaving most of the sprinters behind; the fast finishers relied on their teams to regroup, with D’Hoore caught out and the Alé Cipollini pairing of Bastianelli and Hosking even further back.
However, a sixty-string bunch eventually powered clear to decide the race. Although Waowdeals and FDJ tried to go away through Ieper (Ypres), they were shut down. The race flew along the more-or-less straight run to Wevelgem, with Sunweb and Boels-Dolmans throwing first one rider then another up the road. They only cancelled each other out while Alé Cipollini, Virtu Cycling, Astana and Waowdeals positioned their finishers for the sprint.
Once Ellen Van Dijk (Sunweb) was brought to heel inside the last two kilometres, a sprint was inevitable; Hosking opened it up from a long way out, and although D’Hoore passed her, Bastianelli had her timing spot-on to take the win.
D’Hoore took over in the WWT leader’s jersey, but the biggest target of her road career, probably, lies seven days away – the Tour of Flanders.
https://twitter.com/procycletrumps/status/977907262130966528
Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields, 143 kilometers, Sunday 25 March 2018
1 Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini) 3hrs 41’ 00”
2 Joline D’Hoore (Michelton-Scott)
3 Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM)
4 Arlenis Sierra (Astana)
5 Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans)
6 Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM)
7 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervélo-Bigla)
8 Floortje Mackaij (Sunweb)
9 Barbara Guarischi (Virtu Cycling)
10 Letizia Paternoster (Astana) all same time