Jolien D’hoore Gets First Win Of 2017 At Omloop Van Het Hageland

“It was a really good day,” D’hoore laughed. “I felt really good today, and the team was really strong. I was a little bit surprised by it, because of the race yesterday, but we went into the race with a plan. Elisa was on the attack, and I was in a breakaway once, and the other girls helped us amazingly, and in the end it all worked out.

“Elisa was going for the win,” D’hoore added. “The plan was that she attacked on the last climb of the last lap. She would go for the win, definitely, and I had to be there just in case we caught her back before the finish.”

The race, which was made up of one long, 56km loop, followed by four laps of a 17.5km circuit that included the climb of the Roeselberg, was characterised by several breakaway groups; most of which featured Longo Borghini. At the end of the long loop, the Italian was clear in a group of five, which included former Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling rider Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans), and Longo Borghini’s breakaway companion from the previous day’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Ellen van Dijk (Sunweb).

Once this break had been caught, D’hoore herself escaped in an eight-rider break, which again included Pieters, as well as fellow sprinters Barbara Guarischi (Canyon-SRAM) and Leah Kirchmann (Sunweb).

D’hoore’s break was caught on the penultimate lap, only for Longo Borghini to get away again; again with van Dijk, Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) and van Dijk’s teammate, sprinter Coryn Rivera. This group was 20 seconds clear of the peloton as they took the bell with just one 17.5km lap to go. With neither Longo Borghini or Blaak warning to take Rivera to the line, it was closed down as they approached the foot of the final ascent of the Roeselberg.

Just as the break was caught with just over 5km to go, however, Longo Borghini attacked yet again, and was alone and clear as she crested the Roeselberg. Into the descent the Italian Time Trial Champion had a nine second advantage but, with so many sprinters in the bunch behind her, their teams gradually closed her down as the line approached.

With just over 500 metres to go, Longo Borghini was caught. Her teammate D’hoore was lurking in an ideal spot, however, and launched her sprint almost immediately; the former Belgian Champion managed to hold off her former lead-out rider in the lunge for the line to take her second Omloop van het Hageland in three years.

“I was riding in the way of the other teams a bit, just to try and give her a few extra seconds,” D’hoore explained. “But then we caught her with about - I don’t know - six, or five hundred metres to go, and I thought ‘Oh s**t, now I have to sprint!’

“Luckily I was in the front, and I started my sprint a bit too early actually. I was there so I just had to go. If it’s a downhill finish with a back wind then you shouldn’t hesitate. You just have to go for it, and that’s what I did.

“The last corner is about 1km from the finish, and then it’s a really steep downhill. You come in with such a high speed.

“Actually, I didn’t do a perfect sprint,” she admitted. “If I could do it again I would come from a bit further away, just to get a bit of shelter, and then come out in the last few metres. But I was there in the front, so I had no option.

“Luckily I won!

“My form is really good. I’m not 100%, but it’s still early in the season,” D’hoore concluded. “I’m happy that we won as a team. It’s always nice to win on the first weekend of racing, it takes a lot of pressure off the team. Now we can enjoy ourselves and have some fun racing [Le Samyn] on Wednesday.”

Result
1. Jolien D’hoore (Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling)
2. Chloe Hosking (Alé-Cipollini)
3. Sarah Roy (Orica-Scott)