Marianne Vos sprinted to victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, outsmarting a strong Lidl-Trek team. This is the Dutchwoman's 250th career victory on the road.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider had never won the Tour of Flanders warmup race before, but took victory at her second attempt in Waregem, outpowering Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek). It meant a day of double victory for Visma-Lease a Bike, after Matteo Jorgenson had won the men's equivalent earlier in the day.
The pair had escaped from a leading group of favourites, which included Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco), and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). Paternoster won the sprint for third.
Vos followed a powerful attack by Van Anrooij with 12km to go, and the pair managed to stay away, despite the best efforts of the chasing bunch. Van Anrooij, aware that Vos has a more powerful sprint, sat on in the closing kilometres, but Vos still had the power to triumph in the flat finish.
The race had been interrupted for almost half an hour by a neutralisation with 46km to go due to an accident on the course, which saw a couple of climbs taken out of the route.
"A lot has happened," Vos said post-finish. "There were attacks from the start. Then we had this neutralised part. After the start was given again, there were some new actions. There was a new front group, and in the final, I can't even recall, because so many things happen. At the end, I was happy to be in the break with Shirin van Anrooij."
The victory was Vos' second of 2024, after she triumphed at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, with a similar top four of Kopecky, Longo Borghini and Van Anrooij.
Dwars door Vlaanderen represented only the third time this season, in 19 races, that SD Worx-Protime didn't at least finish on the podium.
How it happened
The race had been active from the beginning, but with few concrete moves made, until attacks from big name riders started to occur on the Kanarieberg, 67km from the finish.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) was one of the main animators, shadowed by the SD Worx-Protime duo of Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky.
After the Kanarieberg, an 11-rider group made it clear, including Pieterse and Kopecky, but also the Lidl-Trek duo of Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini, SD-Worx's Niamh Fisher-Black and Mischa Bredewold, and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).
However, a car accident up ahead of the race caused the event to be neutralised, which saw everything come back together. Riders were stood waiting for their chance to go for almost half an hour, with most putting on jackets as they stayed still.
With just 46km to go of the race once it had resumed, the action came thick and fast, with Lidl-Trek particularly attacking, along with Pieterse and Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike).
It was on the cobbled section of Doorn where the decisive move happened. Shirin van Anrooij and Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco), Pieterse, and Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) went clear.
The latter could not stay in the group, and was replaced by Kopecky, with 25km to go.
Ahead of the Nokere, the final climb of the day, Van Anrooij attacked, but took Vos with her, one of the fastest finishers in the sport.
While the four left behind could not give an organised chase, the leading duo extended their lead. At one point, it seemed Longo Borghini was going to make it across, but it was Van Anrooij and Vos who entered the final kilometre alone.
Van Anrooij hung back and let Vos do the work, but the latter was too powerful, and hung on to take her maiden Dwars victory. Behind, Paternoster proved the strongest of the quartet to take third place, one of the biggest results of her career.
Results: Dwars door Vlaanderen 2024 (129.9 km)
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:17:34
2. Shirin van Anrooij (Ned) Lidl-Trek, in same time
3. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco, +20s
4. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
5. Puck Pieterse (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck
6. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
7. Chiara Consonni (Ita) UAE Team ADQ, +51s
8. Arlenis Sierra (Cub) Movistar
9. Lucinda Brand (Ned) Lidl-Trek
10. Julie De Wilde (Bel) Fenix-Deceuninck, all at same time
