The Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl Trek) won the twenty first edition of the Tour of Flandersstarting and ending in Oudenaarde, 163 kilometers long, completing the work of the whole team, which classified the Dutch Shrin Van Anrooij in third place.
Longo Borghini (Ornavasso, 32 years old) achieved his second victory in the Tour of Flanders, because in 2015 this ‘monument’ was awarded. A victory carefully sculpted by Trek, who, after demolishing the SD Worx of world champion and favorite Lotte Kopecky, put two riders in the winning break and finished off the Italian champion.
Borghini won a three-way sprint against Pole from Canyon Katarzyna Niewiadoma and 22-year-old Dutchman Van Anroiij, with a finish time of 4h.16.04, at an average of 38.3 km/hour. Soon, the group with big names appeared at the finish line: Kopecky, Marianne Vos, Demi Vollering and Silvia Persico.
One of the main moments appeared in climbing the Koppenberg, 52 km from the finish line, where Lotte Kopecky, the world champion, was left with her feet on the ground in front of the attack of the Polish Niewiadoma. Lorena Wiebes, Kopecky’s colleague at SD Worx, Marianne Vos, Longo Borghini, and Silvia Persico, among others, came first.
Big word with an outstanding group leading the fight against another chasing sector, including Kopecky, Vollering, Pfeiffer and Van Empel. With 40 km to go the race gained excitement in the fight for the flamenco ‘monumento’. The absence in front of the world champion has soared the imagination of more than one candidate.
The final exams stayed on Old Kwaremont and Paterberg, but escape attempts are unchanged. Vollering managed to join the first group with Wiebes and later, 19 km from the finish line, Kopecky did.
Dutch Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl Trek) escaped Old Kwaremont with 16 seconds in the high-ranked group, with Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini separating themselves from the race leader.
Ideal scenario for Trek with two front runners. SD Worx of the top favorites is running in 15 seconds with 6.5 km to go. Profit enough for the winning team to know how to play its superiority cards.
With seconds to spare, the moment of truth came at the finish line. There was not much time to lose, so Van Anrooij launched the sprint, followed by Niewiadoma and Borghini finished quickly. Eight years later, she won the monumental Tour of Flanders and succeeded Lotte Kopecky, winner in 2022 and 2023, on the list of winners.
Source: La Verdad
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