Van Dijk wins Le Samyne des Dames

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Dutch rider Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) took a gusty solo victory in a frigid Le Samyn des Dames, putting more than three minutes into the chasing group over the final 35km of the race to give the team its first victory of the season. American Shelley Olds (Tibco) beat out Emma Johansson (Orica) from a small chasing group.

After the major teams kept the race together in the first part of the race, Van Dijk took advantage of a slippery cobbled climb to launch her successful move with 35km left to race. A crash in the peloton disrupted the chase, with Johansson and Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec) the first to set off in pursuit of van Dijk.

Despite hitting the pavement, Olds bridged up to the pair, but the trio could scarcely close down a minute of the large gap to the leader.

Johansson was disappointed that Olds refused to do more work to aid the chase. “I told them it was all in,” Johansson said. “That if we didn’t chase hard now, it wasn’t going to happen. Elisa and I gave it a really good try, but it wasn’t enough. We couldn’t do it, and the gap to Ellen grew bigger.”

Van Dijk had plenty of time to savor her victory, and then 3:16 later Olds out-sprinted Johansson for second, while Longo Borghini claimed a dejected fourth place. Tiffany Cromwell (Orica-AIS) led home the main chasing bunch for fifth.

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