Van der Breggen wins women's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

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Anna Van der Breggen (Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team) scored the win in the women’s edition of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad on Saturday after a two-up sprint with Eleonora Van Dijk (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team).

The two riders has jumped clear of the peloton inside of the last 30 kilometres and with their teams dominating the peloton’s chase they were able to establish an unassailable lead.

Van der Breggen claimed the win in a close sprint Elizabeth Armitstead (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) leading home the peloton 14 seconds later. Boels Dolmans Cycling Team rounded out the top four with Chantal Blaak finishing ahead of Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM).

Omloop het Nieuwsblad opens the women’s European road season, with a 122km parcours, eight climbs and six sections of cobbles. We’ve seen racing in the Australian summer season, and attacks in the Ladies Tour of Qatar, but this was the first real chance to see how the 2015 teams will work together, and what to expect from the World Cup Classics.

While riders were dropped on the first two climbs, and the Côte de Trieu whittled the front group down to 50, it was the halfway point, on the Paterberg that the race really kicked in. A group of 14 escaped, including the previous two winners, Amy Pieters (Liv-Plantur) and Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM), and two-time champion Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), and five from super-team Boels-Dolmans.

More riders chased on, until there were 32 leaders, in a continually changing group. No one could get away, until after the Molenberg, with 30 flat kilometres and three major stretches of cobbles to go, Ellen van Dijk (Boels-Dolmans) and Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) attacked.

Both are experts at the Dutch-style racing of cobbles, wind and clever tactics, with van der Breggen the stronger climber, and Van Dijk known for using her World-Championship-winning time trial strength both for her team and herself, as when she won the Ronde van Vlaanderen World cup solo last year. Van Dijk was coming off a stage win and third place on GC behind team-mate Lizzie Armitstead in Qatar, while this was the first race for van der Breggen since she broke her pelvis in a crash in the 2014 Team Time Trial World Championships.

While van der Breggen tried to drop Van Dijk on the Padestraat cobbles, they settled in to race together, and although their gap was only 45 seconds at the Lippenhovestraat, they were in the perfect position, with four Boels and three Rabobank riders left in the chasing group of 18 which had survived the cobbles behind them. With the gap at one minute in the final 2km, it came down to a sprint between the two Dutch women, and van der Breggen winning her first big Classic title.

With Lizzie Armitstead winning the sprint for third and teammate Chantal Blaak in fourth, Boels were undoubtedly the top team, while Rabo-Liv’s goal of every rider on the team getting a win is off to a fine start – and the rivalry between these two teams is on for another year.

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