After Anna van der Breggen’s victory in 2016, once again a Dutch rider has won the Women’s Elite European title, this year with the win by Marianne Vos, without doubt one of the strongest riders in the history of Women’s cycling.
Marianne Vos was first on the finish line in Herning after a particularly hard fought and tactical race. It was constantly controlled by Italy and the Netherlands who managed to place riders in each breakaway attempt, as well as in the decisive race action
Approximately, 25 kilometres from the finish, a breakaway was made by the Italians, Giorgia Bronzini and Elisa Longo Borghini, the Dutch rider, Marianne Vos, the Russian, Olga Zabelinskaya, the German, Charlotte Becker, the Pole, Katarzyna Pawlowska and the Spaniard, Sheyla Gutierrez who was the first to be dropped from the attack.
The three riders who held out until the end were those who raced for victory in the sprint, won by Marianne Vos ahead of Giorgia Bronzini and Olga Zabelinskaya.
The day began with the Under 23s competition which was raced at a very fast pace and dominated by the Danish. By perfectly orchestrating all the attacks, they managed to place at least one man in every piece of race action.
Approximately 40 kilometres from the finish, four riders broke away: Cosnefroy (France), Pedersen (Denmark), Rikunov (Russia) et Hirschi (Switzerland). The breakaways immediately worked together and quickly gained thirty seconds on the peloton.
300 metres from the finish, when the peloton was quickly catching them up, Pedersen launched into a sprint ultimately beating Benoit Cosnefroy and Marc Hirschi by only a few metres.
Tomorrow (Sunday 6 August) the European Road Championships will conclude with the Elite race (241.2 km, start at 11 am).
European Road Championships Guide #EuroRoad17 – click here
