Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, taking the biggest victory of her career so far. In a sprint of three, the 27-year-old Dutchwoman beat Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility).
The three riders had been part of a group of six that got away on the descent into Cittiglio with just over one lap to go. Swinkels’ teammates Silvia Persico and Eleonora Gasparrini pulled the group to the Casale climb, where Van der Breggen set a hard pace, dropping the two domestiques.
The four remaining frontrunners started the Orino climb with an advantage of more than 30 seconds on a chasing group, and Van der Breggen’s pace made Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL) lose contact.
Another acceleration by Van der Breggen dropped Ottestad, but the Norwegian champion made her way back on the descent and tried to attack from behind.
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“Actually, I wasn’t supposed to go in a breakaway, I was supposed to be waiting for the sprint. But then we had this occasion that we attack with the three of us. Silvia and Gaspa kept pulling for me, and I felt quite confident on the climb. The girls worked really hard for me, they believed in me today, and it’s really nice to be able to finish this off,” said Swinkels after the race.
“I was a little bit nervous for Anna because she’s really strong on the climb, but when the climb was finished, I knew I had to pull. I asked her to pull with me, but it’s normal she didn’t. Then I was really happy that Mie came back, that was really good for me, she pulled a lot in the final. I said to her, ‘I can pull a little bit’, but I didn’t want to pull too much because I knew that the gap was big enough with the pack, and I knew I had to sprint strong because it’s still hard after a long race.”
How it unfolded
Originally scheduled as 152.7km from Luino to Cittiglio, the race had to be shortened to 146km as the Masciago Primo climb on the first 30km was scrapped due to…
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