Ella Wyllie (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto) lead the break(Image credit: Getty Images)
Final breakaway survivors, Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) and Veronica Ewers (EF Education-Oatly)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) attacking late in the race(Image credit: Getty Images)
Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) leads the way on the final climb of the day(Image credit: Getty Images)
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) attacks with Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) in the final(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vollering solo late on before getting caught(Image credit: Getty Images)
The sprint to the line(Image credit: Getty Images)
The final podium – Balsamo, Vas, Ferguson(Image credit: Getty Images)
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) has won her third Trofeo Alfredo Binda in four years, sprinting to victory ahead of Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) and Cat Ferguson (Movistar) after a group of four that had attacked on the Orino climb was caught on the final kilometre.
Six riders had gone clear over the top of the final climb but were caught again on the descent. Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) then made another move with 4km to go, and when Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), and Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) bridged to her, a high-speed chase was on.
The four riders still had a small gap at the flamme rouge but were caught in the corner that led onto the finishing straight, and Balsamo emerged as the strongest in the sprint.
"I'm speechless. It was one of the hardest races ever for me, the last two laps were crazy," Balsamo said after the race.
"My teammates did a great job, and I'm very happy. It's always so nice to win in Italy and at this race, so it's a perfect day," said the three-time winner after the race.
"I really like this race, and now I know every single metre of the race. Today, a lot of friends and all my family were there, they were pushing me in the last climb, every ten metres there was someone, and I'm so happy."
How it unfolded
The peloton stayed together for the first third of the 152-kilometre race until a group of 14 riders used the Orino climb to get away on the first of six laps of the finishing circuit.
With Nina Buijsman, Eglantine Rayer (both FDJ-Suez), Francesca Barale (Picnic-PostNL), Neve Bradbury, Antonia Niedermaier (both Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ella Wyllie (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek), Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ), Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime), Sara Casasola (Fenix-Deceuninck), Mareille Meijering (Movistar), and Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), most big teams were represented up front, and the break could increase its advantage to 1:25 minutes before AG Insurance-Soudal took up the chase.
With three laps or 52.8km to go, the gap was down to 30 seconds, and the group was reeled in before the Orino climb. Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) and Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (EF Education-Oatly) started the climb with a 13-second advantage, but only Włodarczyk could stay ahead over the top as attacks from Vollering, Longo Borghini, Van der Breggen, and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) strung out the peloton.
Włodarczyk was caught on the descent where Van der Breggen used her bike-handling skills to eke out a gap, and the 34-year-old was 18 seconds ahead when she crossed the finish line to start the final lap while Vollering was leading the chase.
UAE Team ADQ came to the front in the flat part of the course, setting up Longo Borghini's attack on the Casalzuigno climb. Together with Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), the Italian champion bridged to Van der Breggen and left her behind. Vollering came past from further back, cresting the climb first with Longo Borghini on her wheel.
After the descent, Vos, Pieterse, Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal), Mavi García, and Silke Smulders (both Liv-AlUla-Jayco) had closed the gap, and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) bridged with 12km to go to form a lead group of nine riders – but this group wouldn't work together, and the peloton was back a kilometre later, just before the start of the climb to Orino.
Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) launched an attack on the lower slopes but could not get away. Longo Borghini then made her move on the steepest part of the climb, 8km from the line, and only Pieterse was able to follow, with Marta Cavalli (Picnic-PostNL), Vos, and Vollering having to dig deep to stay in touch.
On the last part of the climb, Vollering launched another attack past Longo Borghini and Pieterse that Vos couldn't follow while Le Court and Włodarczyk bridged from behind as they went into the descent.
This group of six had a small advantage over the reduced peloton where SD Worx-Protime and Liv-AlUla-Jayco were chasing. Just before the peloton made contact, Pieterse made her last move to get a gap, and Longo Borghini, Vollering, and Trinca Colonel got back to the 22-year-old Dutchwoman's wheel with 3km to go.
The run-in to the finish was a high-speed chase where Gerritse and Van der Breggen slowly but surely closed the gap, catching the front group in the final corner of the race.
Ferguson launched her sprint coming out of the corner and soon passed Vollering, but Balsamo came up fast on the left-hand side of the road and won the sprint. Vas came out of Ferguson's slipstream on the last 50 metres to take second place.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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It all came down to a sprint despite wave after wave of attacks coming in the final two laps of the race with Elisa Balsamo taking her third Trofeo Binda win
