Successful defence for Swedish champion in Belgian season opener
Emma Johansson (Hitec Products-UCK) won the women’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, taking her second successive victory in the Belgian season opener, and her first race for the Norwegian team. Just as in last year’s race, the Swedish champion outsprinted a very select group of riders at the end of the cold, rainy 127km race. Andrea Bosman (SRAM-WV Eemland) finished second with Chantal Blaak (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) in third.
“This is really nice,” Johansson told Sporza immediately after the race. “The team worked very, very hard; it was terribly cold today!”
The race blew apart on the Côte de Trieu (Knokteberg), the second of seven climbs at almost exactly half way through the race, as Johansson accelerated. With her went Bosman, Blaak and AA Drink Leontien.nl teammate Lucinda Brand, Elisa Borghini (Top Girls-Fassa Bortolo), Loes Gunnewijk (Nederland Bloeit), and Grace Verbeke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Ridley 2012).
The seven riders, representing most of the race’s strongest teams, built a lead in excess of two minutes over the remaining hills and cobbles. On the cobbles of the Holloweg though, shortly after the short, sharp climb of the Wolvenberg, Verbeke suffered a mechanical problem and was left behind.
The winner of Ronde van Vlaanderen, and third place in this race, last year managed to get a replacement bike but was forced to sit up and wait for the peloton.
In the closing kilometres Brand was dropped; Longo Borghini too was left behind, but caught up towards the end as the remaining four riders began to watch one another. The Italian was unable to hold the pace on the uphill finishing straight though as Bosman, the closest to a pure sprinter in the group, opened up her sprint.
Johansson was the only able to come around Bosman in the closing metres and it was all the others could to to hold on to the Swedish champion’s wheel. No one could come past though and Johansson took the victory by almost a bike length; Bosman finished half a length ahead of Blaak, who finished narrowly ahead of Gunnewijk.
Annemiek Van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit) led the next group of five over the line to take sixth place 1’39” later; Verbeke finished in ninth.