Shirin van Anrooij, the U23 world cyclocross champion, took her first road victory in a big way, winning Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio, the seventh round of the Women’s WorldTour. The Dutch rider from Trek-Segafredo attacked with 20 km to go and soloed to a famous triumph in Cittiglio.
Preview and Course
Four-time winner Marianne Vos was making her 2023 road racing debut in Italy. The reigning champ, Elisa Balsamo (Italy/Trek–Segafredo) was on the start line. SD Worx’s Lorena Wiebes led Balsamo’s Aussie teammate Amanda Spratt by 118 points atop the WorldTour standings.
After starting along the shore of Lago Maggiore, the route headed inland to take on four laps of an 18-km circuit around Cittiglio. Each circuit held the Casale climb, 800-metres of seven percent, and the Orino, 2.6 km of five percent.
#TrBinda 🇮🇹
The peloton is on the move 🏳️
It’s pretty much up and down all day as we race around Cittiglio ⬆️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/bUeKRsFMpL
— Team Jayco AlUla (@GreenEDGEteam) March 19, 2023
Although there were several attempts, no breakaway managed to fly free before the Cittiglio circuits. On Lap 2’s journey up Orino, two riders finally dashed clear, the duo receiving a reinforcement near the start of Lap 3. But by the end of the penultimate circuit, Trek-Segafredo ran the trio down and U23 world cross champion Shirin van Anrooij was loose.
Van Anrooij was barely ahead of the 35-strong peloton when she heard the bell for the last lap. SD Worx did the chase work. A strong move from Mavi Garcia streamlined the peloton further. Van Anrooij dropped down Casale with a police motorcycle getting in her way.
The chase was too disorganized, so van Anrooij hit the foot of Orino with a 25-second lead. She kept her gap on both the ascent and descent, hitting the line 23 seconds ahead of teammate Balsamo.
The next round of the WorldTour is Thursday’s Classic Brugge-De Panne.
2023 Trofeo Alfredo Binda
1) Shirin van Anrooij (The Netherlands/Trek-Segafredo) 3:39:42
2) Elisa Balsamo (Italy/Trek–Segafredo) +0:23
3) Vittoria Guazzini (Italy/FDJ-Suez) s.t.
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