Marta Bastianelli (Alé Cipollini) won Gent-Wevelgem in a sprint from a group of just over thirty riders after a hard-fought finale. Jolien D'hoore (Mitchelton-Scott) narrowly missed victory for the second year in a row, but takes the overall lead in the UCI Women's WorldTour. Lisa Klein (Canyon-SRAM) sprinted to third place.
The main difficulties of the 142.6-kilometre race were the three climbs of the Baneberg, Kemmelberg, and Monteberg, each being ascended twice, as well as three Plugstreet gravel sections in between the two hilly loops.
No rider could get away from the peloton for more than a few minutes on the first 50 kilometres. There were some splits on the Baneberg and the Kemmelberg, but after the Monteberg everything had come back together.
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Next up where the three Plugstreets, stretches of gravel roads named for World War 1 events. Raced at high speed, the peloton split into three groups here. The lead group was up to 28 seconds ahead of the second bunch, but the three groups joined up again on the run-in to the second ascent of the Baneberg.
With under 50km to go, the final started here, as a group of six riders attacked just before the climb. They were caught immediately, but the peloton split into two groups in this chase. The two groups came back together before the Kemmelberg, and it was there, with 38km to go, that the decisive move would be made.
The top riders led up the steep cobbled slopes themselves, and after the descent a group of 16 riders had gotten clear of the next group. Most sprinters couldn't keep up with the best puncheurs - Jolien D'hoore was in the first chase group that was quickly brought back to the front by her teammate Gracie Elvin.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/gent-wevelgem-women-2018/results
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