Reigning world champion Amalie Dideriksen (DEN) won the 152.2km Ronde van Drenthe in the Netherlands municipality of Hoogeveen on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Boels-Dolmans rider claimed her first win in the rainbow jersey over Italian Elena Cecchini (Canyon-SRAM) and Dutchwoman Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) in the second round of the UCI Women’s WorldTour following last week’s opener at Strade Bianche won by Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5), who was a last-minute entry for Wiggle and finished just off the podium in fourth on the day.
Dideriksen was the fastest of a leading group of the final four riders.
The Netherlands’s Ellen van Dijk (Team Sunweb), a former teammate of Dideriksen on Boels, opened the final 30km from the finish with an attack on the VAM mountain. She hit a gap of 10 seconds on a group of about 15 chasers, but was taken back again soon before Dideriksen, Brand, Cecchini and Longo Borghini countered with a successful attack to ride clear to the finish.
“It was hard,” said Dideriksen after the race. “We were always on 10-15 seconds the entire time.
“We didn’t know if it would come back,” she continued. “I tried to keep the gap but save some energy for the sprint.”
— World Cycling Stats (@wcstats) March 11, 2017
@AmalieDiderikse of
@boelsdolmansct wins #UCIWWT
Dideriksen’s teammate and last year’s race winner Chantal Blaak finished in ninth position just ahead of Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini).
“We had a lot of cards to play, and I’m happy with how it played out,” said Dideriksen. “The team was great, and it’s always an amazing feeling when they put their trust in me.”
Full race report and results to follow…
Top 10 results
- 1. Amalie DIDERIKSEN, BOELS-DOLMANS, in 3:51:17
- 2. Elena CECCHINI, CANYON-SRAM, at :00
- 3. Lucinda BRAND, TEAM SUNWEB, at :00
- 4. Elisa LONGO BORGHINI, WIGGLE-HIGH5, at :02
- 5. Annemiek VAN VLEUTEN, ORICA-SCOTT, at :07
- 6. Jolien D’HOORE, WIGGLE-HIGH5, at :09
- 7. Marianne VOS, WM3 ENERGIE, at :09
- 8. Alice BARNES, DROPS, at :09
- 9. Chantal BLAAK, BOELS-DOLMANS, at :09
- 10. Chloe HOSKING, ALÉ CIPOLLINI, at :09
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