Lorena Wiebes clinches her second European title after a scintillating sprint
To loud cheers, the Elite Women set off from under the starting arch in Heusden-Zolder. They faced a 162 km-long course as they competed for the European title. In a bunch sprint, Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes sprinted convincingly to secure her second European title. The silver and bronze medals went to Italy's Elisa Balsamo and Poland's Daria Pikulik.
The first attack of the day was made by Nikola Noskova. She quickly gained a small lead but, after a fall, the Czech rider was soon reeled in by the peloton. However, Noskova did not stay idle for long and soon unleashed a second attack. This time, she did manage to pull away successfully and the peloton had to concede a minute to the Czech. With 90 km to the finish, she was finally caught after the Manshoven cobblestoned section.
A little later, it was the Dutch team that cranked up the tempo on the Kriezel. For a moment, the peloton seemed on the verge of splitting, but then the pace in the peloton dropped again. Spain's Mireia Benito Pellicer capitalised on this lull and broke away 77 km from the finish. Her attack was neutralised by a chasing peloton with 56 km to go.
Shortly after the halfway point of the race, it was back to the drawing board. During the final Limburg loop, both Italy and France went on the attack. The Dutch ladies were quick to respond to these efforts and so the race continued in closed formation. A final lone attack came, once again from the Spanish camp. Martin Martin ramped up the pace with 30 km to go and earned herself a 20-second lead on the peloton.
In the wake of the Spanish rider, the peloton continued to play cat and mouse and seemed to be readying itself for a bunch sprint. Team Netherlands led the way into the final local lap in Hasselt. Led by the Dutch column, Spain's Martin Martin was swallowed up 12 km from the finish. With 2 km to go, the battle for positioning moved into full swing.
The Italian riders led out the sprint for Balsamo, but from behind, Dutch Lorena Wiebes surged past everyone. With a brilliant sprint, Wiebes rewarded the perfect team play of the Dutch squad. Wiebes can once again don the European championship jersey, with Italy's Balsamo and Poland's Pikulik completing the podium. For the Netherlands, it is the eighth victory in the European Elite Women’s road race in nine years.