Megan Armitage has taken victory in the Halle-Buizingen 1.15A race in Belgium. The IBCT rider got clear in the winning breakaway and then attacked from it to score a solo victory.
It was the 25-year-old's second win in Europe as she was best in Emptinne GP Roland Warnon, also in Belgium, last August. Since then she has wintered in Australia before riding very solidly in her first major professional outings of the year, including finishing Dwars door Vlaanderen, Scheldeprijs and De Brabantse Pijl.
Yesterday in Belgium the 88km Halle-Buizingen was held on an undulating circuit, with three climbs each lap. That course wore down the bunch and saw the number of abandons gradually increase through the contest.
Armitage got clear in a four-rider breakaway that worked well together to put significant daylight between themselves and the remains of the peloton. With just under four laps remaining that gap was at about four minutes, when Armitage took the initiative and attacked.
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She managed to get clear of her three fellow escapees and hit out hard for the finish line. Australian rider Josie Talbot (Roxsolt Attaquer) attacked from the chasing and put in an impressive effort to get across to lone leader Armitage.
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However, while Talbot got very close to Armitage on the final lap, the Irish rider held her off to win by 10 seconds.
Some 1:25 after Armitage had crossed the line in victory, Belgian Febe Schokkaert (S-Bikes Doltcinia) claimed 3rd place. The last of the four-rider breakaway women, Belgian rider Audrey De Keersmaeker (VZW Ladies Sprint), finished in 4th place at 1:50.
The 37-rider bunch sprint, some four minutes down on Armitage, was won by Ukrainian rider Ganna Solovei (Team Ukraine) from Saartje Vandenbroucke (S-Bikes Doltcinia).
Meanwhile, Armitage's IBCT Irish team mate Fiona Mangan was in action in ZLM Omloop der Kempen Ladies (1.2) in the Netherlands on Saturday. She finished in 76th place at 27 seconds. Mangan was just off the back of the peloton at the end of the 125km race, won by Rachele Barbieri (Liv Racing Xstra) in a bunch sprint.
Young Irish rider Maia Simmons (18), competing in the colours of Dutch team Watersley Race & Development CT, was among a large number of non-finishers.
Halle-Buizingen (88km)
