Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) clinched her second Strade Bianche title on Saturday, overcoming a formidable challenge from Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) who finished second at 18″. Rounding out the podium in third was Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), who finished 1:42″down.
Van der Breggen, making a remarkable return after a three-year retirement, demonstrated her enduring strength by securing second place, while French mountain biking champion Ferrand-Prévot showed she is still capable of competing on the road by taking a well-deserved third spot.
It was the 11th edition of the 136-kilometer race and there were many favorites expected to challenge Vollering, but in the end, the greatest challenge came from Vollering’s former sports director, Anna van der Breggen. It wasn’t until 12km to go that the decisive breakaway was formed when Van der Breggen attacked on a descent and was followed by Vollering who counter-attacked. The two riders quickly forged a gap and rode together into Siena with a gap of 1:46″. On the approach to the final climb, Van der Breggen attempted to control the pace by leading into it, but was checked by Vollering who attacked immediately after with 500 meters to go and surged ahead to seize the victory by 18 seconds.
Vollering thanked her team afterwards for the hard work that helped position her for the win.
“My teammates really did a great job. At one point we were riding with the peloton on a big gap from the leading group, which made me think of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad again and I feared that it would be a similar scenario today. Fortunately Juliette [Labous, ed.] did some incredibly strong turns, which quickly closed the gap.”
Van der Breggen was pleased with her ride and didn’t think there was much more she could have done.
“She is a bit more explosive and this was very steep. The only thing I could try was to push earlier. But I went and I felt that it was over.”
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RESULTS
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