Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) became the first rider not named Lorena Wiebes to win the women's Scheldeprijs, prevailing in an animated finish which saw the Italian sprinter charge through Team Picnic PostNL's well-choreographed leadout for Charlotte Kool.
The sprint was opened by Lidl-Trek, catching the embers of a 10-rider break that was swept up within the final 1500m. Kool moved through to the front of the peloton 200m from the line, before Balsamo provided a late surge to take the sprint win.
Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) rounded out the podium in third place in a somewhat chaotic final sprint.
"This victory is really important for me, because finally, I could finalize all the work that my teammates are doing this first part of the season," Balsamo said following her race victory. "They always do an amazing job. And I'm super happy that today I could win."
For Balsamo there was less pressure in the final 10km as teammate Anna Henderson was in a strong position amid the breakaway group. "We were really happy with Anna in the breakaway, because she's really strong, she's fast, so she could even win in the breakaway. But at the end, they closed the gap, and yes, they did an amazing job there again, and I'm super happy that I could win."
"In the last weeks I was a lot of time on the podium but winning is also a nice feeling," Balsamo added.
"It was a little bit chaos, because we were not sure that we were going to close the breakaway, but then, yes, Anna was in the perfect position, and Lizzie and Clara did an amazing lead out."
Given Lidl-Trek's position in the breakaway, it was Picnic PostNL who were under pressure to close the gap, Balsamo explained. "We were OK, as I said, with the breakaway, because Anna is really strong, so it was their job to close."
How it Unfolded
The day's main breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
The race started below sunny skies in Schoten, with the route ahead presenting 130.3km of racing through suburban Flemish roads. The last third of the race would comprise three flat finish circuit laps of 18km which would present a big challenge to anyone challenging the sprinters' teams.
A short sector of pavé, Broekstraat, was the only technical part of the finish circuit preventing an all-out sprint battle, with all eyes on Charlotte Kool as the pre-race favourite.
With that in mind, it was no surprise that the peloton saw no concerted effort to form a viable break, and when a successful attack came after 15km of racing, it was a slim breakaway of two riders – American Allison Mrugal (Cynisca Cycling) and Amelia Tyler (Handsling Alba Development Road Team).
The breakaway never gained too much traction and around the halfway mark, with 70km left, the gap sat at a slender 2:10.
The lead wilted for the two escapees, as they entered the final 30km with barely a minute over the peloton.
At 25km remaining, there was a gap of 1:10, and attacks came from the peloton. The aggression saw the margin to the breakaway decimated within 10km, and a group bridged up to the two leaders to see the breakaway swell to 10. The front group was now Femke Gerritse (Team SD Worx-Protime), Marie Schreiber (Team SD Worx-Protime), Julie De Wilde (Fenix-Deceuninck), Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-/SRAM zondacrypto), Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), Sarah Roy (EF Education-Oatly), Alicia González (St Michel - Preference Home - Auber93 WE), Scarlett Souren (VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team), Allison Mrugal (Cynisca Cycling), Amelia Tyler (Handsling Alba Development Road Team).
The successful Lidl-Trek team following the race finish (Image credit: Getty Images)
With 10km remaining, the breakaway was lurking only metres up the road from a peloton moved into formation by the sprint trains of Picnic-PostNL and Liv AlUla Jayco.
With a lack of cohesion in the chase and an exceptional pull on the front from Schreiber, the gap stretched out to 20 seconds with 5km remaining.
It wouldn't be enough, though, as the peloton's sprint teams were too close to let the breakaway slip from view, and so the escapees were reeled in with less than 2km remaining, setting the stage for a sprint showdown.
Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.
Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.
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