Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) won the women's edition of the Classic Brugge-De Panne with a late-race attack from a front breakaway of six, catching the sprinter-heavy group off guard to take a solo victory.
The British rider counterattacked seven kilometres from the finish when an acceleration from her teammate Megan Jastrab was shut down.
The rest of the group couldn't agree to chase Georgi, and the British rider soloed to the finish. At 1:10 minutes later, Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) beat Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) in the sprint for second place.
A group of ten had gotten away on the first passage of De Moeren, a straight, exposed crosswind section, with 58km to go. They gradually increased their advantage as only UAE Team ADQ were chasing in the peloton, and when the gap reached 40 seconds, the peloton gave up, leaving the front ten to fight for the victory.
On the second time through De Moeren, Georgi and Jastrab put the race in the gutter, forcing a split that left only six riders ahead, and Georgi then placed her attack well to take the victory.
“I’m so happy, it’s my first WorldTour win. Pretty unexpected for me, actually. We came into it with a plan to race aggressively, and the whole team did that. We tried to thin out the bunch a bit before we even turned into De Moeren. Megan and I made the front split, and then on the last lap, we tried again to make it even smaller,” said Georgi, who suffered two fractured vertebrae in a crash at the 2020 edition of Brugge-De Panne.
Going into the last ten kilometres, the two Team DSM riders still had to contend with Balsamo, Wiebes, Amalie Dideriksen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), and Shari Bossuyt (Canyon-SRAM), all fast sprinters.
“We knew we couldn’t come to the finish with any of them because they are very fast. We just knew we were going to attack. Megan attacked first and set me up, then I just went as hard as I could. My legs were feeling pretty tired at that point, so it was just giving it everything, and the DS shouting in my ear really helped, just put the head down and go to the line,” Georgi recounted the final.
How it unfolded
The first part of the race before reaching the circuit around De Panne was marred by crashes on the narrow Flemish roads, forcing several riders to abandon. After the first passage of the finish line with 95.9km to go, Mieke Docx (Lotto Dstny Ladies) tried to get away but was reeled in again after a few kilometres.
Team DSM forced splits in a head-crosswind section, but things came back together when the race turned into a headwind. Pre-race favourites Balsamo, Wiebes, and Charlotte Kool (Team DSM) were first into De Moeren, where everyone knew the race could be decided, and eventually, a group of ten, including Georgi, Jastrab, Balsamo, Wiebes, Dideriksen, Bossuyt, Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM), Alice Barnes (Human Powered Health), and the Fenix-Deceuninck duo of Julie De Wilde and Christina Schweinberger got away.
They crossed the finish line with a 17-second advantage on a peloton where UAE Team ADQ were the only ones chasing, and the gap quickly grew to 40 seconds. Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) then tried to bridge to the front alone but soon had to give up as well.
At 12km from the finish, the acceleration by Georgi and Jastrab through De Moeren split the front group, and a touch of wheels made Barnes crash, leaving De Wilde with no time to evade the Brit’s bike and somersaulting over it.
When the six riders left in the front reached the built-up area of De Panne, Jastrab and Georgi took turns attacking the group, and Georgi was successful in getting away.
None of the sprinters in the group behind wanted to use energy to bring her back, only to lose the sprint, and Georgi had ample time to celebrate her first Women’s WorldTour victory. Van der Duin beat Schweinberger in the sprint for sixth, 1:38 minutes behind, and Consonni led home the peloton 4:14 minutes down.
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