Karlijn Swinkels sprints to first WorldTour victory at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, denying Anna Van der Breggen
The UAE Team ADQ rider cements herself as one to watch at the historic spring Classic.
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Karlijn Swinkels sprinted to her first WorldTour victory at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, denying Anna Van der Breggen her first win at the event in the final metres.
Van der Breggen's (SD Worx-Protime) gamble failed as the UAE Team ADQ commanded an unanswered sprint after a closely fought final kilometre.
Mie Bjorndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) closed out the podium 42 seconds ahead of the peloton after the trio battled for the top spot from 10km to go.
Article continues belowSpeaking to TNT after her victory, the Dutchwoman said: "I was supposed to be waiting for the final sprint, but then we had this occasion that we attacked with the three of us with Silvia [Persico] and Gaspa [Gasparrini] and they kept pulling for me.
"I felt quite confident in the climb, but then after I got a bit nervous because in the final, of course, Anna didn’t pull, but this is normal because before she pulled a lot.
"In the sprint, I felt quite confident but also a little nervous because I really wanted to finish the good teamwork off because the girls worked really hard for me and believed in me today, and it’s nice to be able to finish this off."
It was a challenging day on the bike with more than 2,300m of vertical ascent, leaving the 146km race (shortened by 6km due to weather conditions overnight) open to both sprinters and climbers.
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Without Lidl-Trek's Elisa Balsamo, who won the race for the third time last year, the historic race was open for a new champion.
But this race was all about nerve and knowing when to take a gamble, with no breakaways forming until 40km into the race as Hannah Ludwig (Cofidis) led the peloton by two minutes.
Ludwig continued to hold a one-minute 30-second lead during the ascent up the Orino, 10km into her solo effort, she managed to hold onto it for almost two of the five 17.8km laps, which featured the Casale climb and Orino.
But injections of pace in the peloton by Kasia Niewadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and her team saw the lead be eaten away before Ludwig could finish the second lap, and so with 55km to go the bunch was altogether again.
It remained like that for another 20km as 20 riders led out the race, leaving a diminished peloton to chase 25 seconds in arrears.
From there, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) sprung an attack, followed by Niewiadoma and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), and while the attempt seemed to be established, it came to no avail.
No rider or group were able to establish any form of breakaway from this front pack until 20km to go, when Swinkels, Van der Breggen, UAE Team ADQ's Silvia Persico and Eleanor Gasparrini, and Ottestad were drawn from the front pack by Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic–PostNL), and quickly formed a 17-second advantage with just 15km to go.
And the pressure kept piling, and soon enough, Persico and Gasparrini were dropped on the ascent of the Orino as Van der Breggen looked determined to take her first victory at the event.
Six became four, and then three as Georgi was dropped at 10km to go, as Visma-Lease a Bike turned up the pressure from behind to catch the leading quartet.
It was a test of nerves from 7km to go as Van der Breggen attacked on the climb, with Ottestad suffering and Swinkels hanging on.
On the descent, there were attacks from all three with the lead changing hands on multiple occasions as the race reached its climax in what looked set to be a three-way bunch sprint.
Van der Breggen held back, while Swinkels continued to push, with Ottestad trailing after a previous attack.
And Swinkels' gamble paid off as Van der Breggen was unable to respond to her pace to take her first World Tour victory and deny her compatriot her first win at the spring Classic.
Result
Trofeo Alfredo Binda (146km)
1. Karlijn Winkels (Dut) UAE Team ADQ, in 03:53:17
2. Anna van der Breggen (Dut) SD Worx-Protime
3. Mie Bjorndal Ottestad (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +2s
4. Blanka Vas (Hun) SD Worx-Protime, +44s
5. Leitizia Borghesi (Ita) AG Insurance-Soudal
6. Marianne Vos (Dut) Visma Lease a Bike
7. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
8. Noemi Ruegg (Swi) EDF Education-Oatly
9. Celia Gery (Fra) FDJ United-Suez
10. Shirin van Anrooij (Dut) Lidl-Trek
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