On the Ronde van Brugge podium, surprise winner Carys Lloyd (Movistar) was surrounded by Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike), the runner-up Italian admitting that while her team’s lead-out was strong, she was blocked in and then unable to react in the sprint to be able to take the win.
The top teams had different approaches to the mass sprint as Visma-Lease a Bike massed at the front with more than 10km to go, while Lidl-Trek stayed out of the wind and waited until the penultimate kilometre.
“It was sunny, then it was really cold, then it was hailing and then raining. At the end, everyone was just freezing. As a team, we really took care of each other, and the lead-out was really good. Just in the last moment, I was a little bit closed and I couldn’t start my sprint when I wanted. I had to wait a little bit, and then it was too late,” explained Balsamo.
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“Of course I’m a bit disappointed, but my start of the season was not the best one and I’m happy to be back on the podium in an important race,” said Balsamo after her first WorldTour podium of the season.
“It was our goal to fight for the podium. We approached the sprint in a good way; we started to come together really early and take the lead in the front. From then, I surfed a bit on the Lidl-Trek train, and I was a bit boxed in in the end, but I am happy that I could find a way out and finish it off for the girls with a podium.”
“It was a hectic race, and in the end, it was all a bit for nothing, really. I think that the wind came from the right direction, but a…
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