Elisa Longo Borghini won the women’s Tour of Flanders, beating Niewiadoma and her teammate Van Anrooij in the sprint. Lotte Kopecky didn’t have the best legs of her career and had to settle for fifth place.
In weather that is gradually deteriorating, five runners make up today’s breakaway: Ghekiere, Pirrone, Docx, Verhulst-Wild et Talbot. But Docx has to let his partners in the leading group slip away 75km from the finish.
68km from the finish, Arzuffi et Jansen try their luck but fail to gain a sufficient lead and are caught once more while the breakaways are also reviewed one by one.
The strongest manage to escape from the peloton while Lotte Kopecky had to dismount in the Koppenberg and lost around thirty seconds.
Eight girls stand out at the front with big favorites: Wiebes, Unknown, Pieterse, Longo Borghini, Paternoster, Vos, Perch et Swinkels. Kopecky can count on the help of Vollering to try to come back.
But Lotte Kopecky is not having a great day and Vollering makes the leap alone regarding thirty kilometers from the finish. Van Anrooij also comes from behind around twenty kilometers from the finish and attacks directly.
Swinkels and Pieterse are on the counter at around fifteen seconds while Kopecky has returned to the favorites and dictates a big tempo to reduce the gap.
At the top of Paterberg, Van Anrooij is still alone in the lead while Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma came out on the counter and came back on the leader 12km from the finish. Kopecky got stuck a bit and is in the counter group.
The leading trio will compete for victory in the sprint and Van Anrooij launches for his leader Longo Borghini. The Italian champion is the fastest and wins for the second time in the Tour of Flanders. She is ahead of Niewiadoma and Van Anrooij. Lotte Kopecky finished fifth.
