Alice Sharpe was the sole survivor of four Irish starters today at Dwars door Vlaanderen; three in the women's race and one in the men's event.
Sharpe (Team Rupelcleaning) went to the start line of the 122.2km and a team line-up that include Irish team mate Mia Griffin and their compatriot Lauren Creamer (Lviv Cycling Team).
The event, starting and finishing in Waregem, featured no fewer than seven sections of cobbles, 10 categorised climbs and crosswinds a aplenty; a tough day in the saddle for the 154 starters.
While Trek-Segafredo dominated for much at the race at the front, with Movistar, after the early breakaway had been overhauled and the riders dipped inside the final 40km the decisive move was made.
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) made her move over the Knotenberg, with only Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) able to go with her from the peloton, which had been reduced to about 40 riders.
Advertisement
The two leaders never gained much of a gap as
Trek-Segafredo, who missed the move, tried to peg them back over the remaining climbs
and final hour of racing.
Related News
European champion van Vleuten
and Niewiadoma never gained more than 30 seconds over what rapidly became a
select group behind them. For much of their time out front their advantage was
less than 20 seconds, making for a finale full of suspense.
But while the chasers could almost touch the two leaders out front they couldn't catch them and Van Vleuten went very early in the final sprint to beat Niewiadoma. Alexis Ryan (Canyon SRAM Racing) won the sprint for 3rd place some 19 seconds down.
There were 108 finishers on the day and
Ireland’s Sharpe finished in 83rd, in the largest group on the road nine
minutes down.
Griffin and Creamer were both non
finishers, as was Ryan Mullen of Trek-Segafredo in the men’s race, which was
won by Dylan Van Baarle.
The Dutch cyclists took a rare win in a one-day race in Belgium for Ineos Grenadiers with a solo breakaway of more than 50km. He finished 26 seconds ahead of the chasing group, with Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) winning the sprint for 2nd place from Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix).
Topics
