Just like one year ago, the Omloop van het Hageland once again ended with a second place in the sprint for Lara Gillespie.
This time, however, the story of the race unfolded in a very different way. The 141.8 kilometres from Aarschot to Tielt-Winge were raced aggressively by the UAE Team ADQ. After the unlucky day at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad yesterday, Dutch rider Karlijn Swinkels spent much of the day on the attack.
Following the early breakaway, a small group of riders – including Swinkels – bridged across from the peloton to the front of the race. The move was further reinforced with just over 60 kilometres to go. A crash then eliminated two of the attackers, leaving three riders out front: Karlijn Swinkels together with Marta Lach (SD Worx) and Flora Perkins (Fenix).
The trio worked well together, building a lead of more than one minute over the main bunch, while UAE Team ADQ controlled the situation effectively behind.
As the bell rang to signal the start of the fourth and final lap of the finishing circuit, the leaders still held an advantage of around 50 seconds. The gap gradually came down to just nine seconds, before a brief hesitation in the peloton allowed the breakaway riders one last surge of pride, extending their lead back to around 30 seconds.
But their fate was sealed. The final climb brought the peloton back, catching the attackers in the final few hundred metres before the finish line. Megan Jastrab delivered a strong lead-out for Gillespie, who perhaps hesitated slightly before launching her sprint and was overtaken by Charlotte Kool (Fenix–Premier Tech), who claimed the victory. Gillespie had to settle once again for second place, but is another good result for the team.
(ph. Getty Sport)
