Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) continued her run of good form with a commanding victory in the Boels Ronde van Drenthe, the second round of the inaugural UCI Women's WorldTour.
Following on her victory in Le Samyn des Dames and second in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Blaak topped Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS) and Ladies Tour of Qatar winner Trixi Worrack (Canyon SRAM), but it was fourth-placed Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) who will take over the WorldTour lead after round 1 winner, world champion Lizzie Armitstead, abandoned the race due to illness.
Blaak, Elvin, Worrack and Van der Breggen changed up the usual tactics for the Dutch race, which features a series of cobblestone sections in the first half, then a circuit that traverses the man-made VAM-berg twice before the finishing circuit.
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In recent years, the VAM-berg has been the launching pad for the successful breakaways, but this time it was the final cobblestone sprint that fractured the peloton and created the winning move.
Blaak pushed the pace to claim the pavé sprint with 61km to go, and once she was joined by Elvin, Worrack, and Van der Breggen, all of the major teams except Wiggle-High5 were represented.
A number of crashes in the chasing group only served to extend their lead to over two minutes by the time they crested the VAM-berg for the final time, and it became clear they would stay away until the finish.
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