Alice Sharpe has ended her spring campaign in Belgium on
a strong note with a very good ride in Brabantse Pijl.
The 26-year-old Irish track and road international has
competed in eight major races against top flight opposition in the last six
weeks; finishing all of them and riding very strongly yesterday.
The race was won by Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo)
in a sprint from the breakaway after Demi Vollering (SD Worx) celebrated too early.
Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service) placed 3rd, with the six riders sprinting for victory finishing 56 seconds clear of the 36-rider peloton. Sharpe was in the next group on the road, finishing in 55th at 2:21.
She has now brought the opening block of her season to a close having banked lots of quality racing including Le Samyn des Dames, Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and Scheldeprijs.
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At Brabantse Pijl yesterday Sharpe (Team Rupelcleaning) was still in the bunch after the
field had been well and truly whittled down on a course with cobbles and 22
categorised climbs. But in the last 5km she said she the intensity of the 127.3km race took its toll on her.
“The first 1½ hours of the race, I was very comfortable
in the bunch,” she said. “The past few races have been really dictated by the
crosswinds but yesterday we were able to relax and fuel up during the opening
half of the race.”
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She added the roads and climbs were a welcome break for
the usual courses of the spring classics and when the race hit the finishing
circuits in Overijse the pressure was really on.
“The local laps were technical and unforgiving; you are
either climbing, descending or cornering,” she said.
Sharpe added when the six-rider winning breakaway went 1½
laps to go, the race went into overdrive as the gap went out to over a minute.
“I was dropped from the group with 5km to go the final
time over the Holstheide,” she said. “I was annoyed with myself for not being
able to stay with the bunch so close to the finish, but I'd really given it
everything.
“Overall I was pleased with my performance; still a way
to go to be competitive in the finals but I'm taking a lot of confidence from
the race.
“Lots of the climbs also feature in this year’s World Championships
so to prove myself yesterday was important for future selection,” she
explained, adding she felt recent weeks had gone well.
“I've been consistent during the spring classics. I just
need another few percent to be competitive in the closing stages of the race.
But I'm leaving Belgium with some new found confidence.”
Sharpe now turns her attention to the track and will be riding the international meeting in Gent this weekend.
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