Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ) rushed from a nine-rider breakaway group and earned the victory in an uphill sprint at Beobank Samyn Ladies. Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal) finished second, and Marthe Truyven (Fenix-Premier Tech) went third in Dour.
The World Champion on the track went clear with under 200 metres to go and earned her first victory on the road Monday, just one day after going second in Omloop van het Hageland.
"I wanted a hard race, and the team did an epic job today, from kilometre zero to the end. I know I can sprint after a long day out, so I just took confidence, and I knew I couldn't leave it too late like before," Gillespie told broadcasters at the finish.
The Belgian semi-Classic contest came down to a tactical sprint once the breakaway entered Dour after 21 climbs and even more sectors of cobblestones.
Gillespie moved across to the decisive breakaway group to join teammate Elynor Bäckstedt, and the two worked together to keep the lead bunch intact for a final sprint.
"That wasn't exactly the plan, but we knew if there was a break of eight to 10 riders, we wanted to have two. So I saw Eleanor was in a group of nine. So I said, I'll jump across," Gillespie said.
"She's an outstanding teammate, and we know how to work together. We can kind of read each other's minds and read each other's racing legs. And yeah, she's a top rider. She knows exactly how to race. And it was perfect."
How it unfolded
Many of the women who lined up to compete in the 133.4km Beobank Samyn Ladies undoubtedly could feel some fatigue from Opening Weekend, where Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) won Omloop van het Hageland.
The women's race, now in a 12th edition, started in Quaregnon and tackled four circuits, totalling 25 cobbled sectors, before finishing in Dour.
There were several early-race crashes in the peloton as the field swept through the narrow and winding roads and teams sent off a flurry of attacks. However, the peloton remained largely intact for the first half of the race.
A breakaway of 10 emerged midway through the race on the second circuit with Elynor Bäckstedt and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ), Kamilla Aasebø and Alessia Vigilia (Uno-X Mobility), Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Premier Tech), Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health), Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal), Caroline Andersson and Quinty Ton (Liv AlUla Jayco), and Amber van der Hulst (VolkerWessels).
The breakaway riders were organised in their efforts and worked well together with their gap pushing out to more than two minutes.
Lotto-Intermaché and Picnic-PostNL took control of the main peloton, but it was AG Insurance-Soudal that split the field with 34km remaining.
The reduced field came back together as the race started the final lap, while the breakaway held their nearly two minutes into the final 15km of racing.
With the speed picking up with 6.5km to go, the VolkerWessels rider was the first to drop back while Liv AlUla Jayco and UAE Team ADQ each kept their pair of riders intact, and a yo-yo effect taking place on the final cobbled sector. But the nine stayed regrouped for the final two kilometres to set up the sprint finish.
Results
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