Blaak wins Le Samyn des Dames

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Chantal Blaak (Boels Dolmans) won her first race of the 2016 season, successfully defending her title at Le Samyn des Dames on Wednesday. The Dutch rider, who recently placed second behind solo teammate Lizzie Armitstead at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, took the reins at Le Samyn and won the race in a two-up sprint ahead of Wiggle High5's Emma Johansson, while Amy Pieters crossed the line for third.

Le Samyn des Dames gave the women its traditional mid-week classic, a 112km race from Quaregnon to Dour in Belgium. The women's peloton kicked off Belgium's opening week last weekend with the double header Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, won by Armitstead, and Omloop van het Hageland, won by Marta Bastianelli (Ale Cipollini).

A large 16-rider group split off the front of the main field that included Blaak, Johansson and Pieters along with Boels Dolmans riders Karol-Ann Canuel, Nikki Harris, Demi De Jong and Christine Majerus, and Lauren Kitchen (Hitec Products), Shelley Olds and Valentina Scandolara (Cylance) and Floortje Mackaij (Liv Plantur), among others.

Boels Dolmans had the numbers in the lead group and pushed the pace, building a time gap of roughly three minutes ahead of the field. Johansson made a savvy attack on the last lap with Mackaij and Harris, and the three were later joined by Blaak and Pieters, and two other riders.

Blaak and Johansson were the next to make their move and the pair gained 30 seconds on the chase group behind. Blaak attacked several times to try and lose Johansson, and even though those moves were not successful, she saved enough for the two-up sprint to win the race.

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