Paris-Roubaix Femmes: Lidl-Trek tactical plan works but Balsamo outpowered in sprint

Seeing Lidl-Trek on the front foot in the key moments of the biggest races has become a familiar sight this season, and Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift was no different, with the team coming into the finale as the only squad with two riders in the selective front group.

After being in the right place through all of the sectors, Lidl-Trek were aggressive heading into the finale, with Ellen van Dijk attacking multiple times and infiltrating the lead group that got away. Elisa Balsamo then bridged across – on the wheel of Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-firmenich PostNL) – to make it advantage Lidl-Trek up front.

Tactically, it’s hard to see how the team could have been in a better position, but in the sprint to the line it all just came down to legs, and Balsamo couldn’t quite match Lotte Kopecky’s speed in the velodrome, settling for second.

Read more: Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift – Lotte Kopecky sprints to a narrow victory in the velodrome

“We wanted to have riders in front, otherwise the race was not happening much,” DS Jeroen Blijlevens told GCN at the finish on the topic of the team’s plan for the day. “We are very happy that we had Ellen in front, you saw how strong she was.”

Even with Balsamo bridging to the front, she was able to save energy as much as possible, declining to work with Georgi at first, by reason of having a teammate up front – sometimes a risky tactic but one that paid off.

“That was not her work to do and we know Georgi is very strong, so she had to do the most work of course because we had Ellen in front,” Blijlevens explains. “Later on, you saw that she was really tired and then we said 'ok now you can do turns a little bit' and then it came back.”

For a team that has been so tactically astute this season, with Flanders winner Elisa Longo Borghini putting their success partly down to that strategic direction, it’s not surprising that Lidl-Trek managed to play Roubaix so well.

Nevertheless, Saturday underlined that tactics can only get you 95% of the way, and the final 5% – be it being fastest in a sprint or dropping the threatening riders – is hard to complete after a long, arduous day in the saddle.

“Of course, we had a lot of fast riders in the leading group so we know Balsamo is really fast, she is also a good track sprinter so that definitely helps her. But so is Kopecky and Marianne Vos is also good in this, so we wanted to let Vos do some work and she did,” Van Dijk said of the team’s approach to the finale. “Kopecky played it smart as well and she was the strongest in the sprint. We put all of our cards on the sprint and that is what we had to do, because in myself I missed the acceleration to really make a difference.”

For Balsamo, there was also a level of acceptance of the situation at the finish.

“It was a really hard race and I think after such a hard race Lotte [Kopecky] was stronger,” she explained. “I also think that at the end of Roubaix it's not about [being] the fastest but about the one with the more fresh legs. I'm just happy and I think I did a good sprint and a really good race.”

Disappointment wanes for Elisa Balsamo

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Close but not quite for Elisa Balsamo at Roubaix

After Balsamo was seen in tears just after the finish, it was perhaps surprising to hear her describe herself as happy with her race, but after reflection, it’s clear the Italian knew she and her team had had a good day.

“We wanted to take the first three cobbled sectors all together in the front with the team but it was really really difficult because everyone was fighting. So that was not really possible but then we just try to stay together and to take the cobbles in the first part of the bunch because it makes a big difference. Then Ellen was really trying to attack, because we know that in this race if you arrive solo that's the best solution, but then 4km from the finish the team decided that we would help me for the sprint and we went for the sprint,” she explained.

Asked whether she could have done anything different in the finale, Balsamo was honest in her assessment: “Honestly I don't know, maybe start the sprint a little bit later – after the race it's always easy to say – but then I was just really tired and I think that I did the best that I could.”

Once the disappointment fully wears off, Balsamo will likely look back on this Classics block as a success, with two wins and three podiums to her name, and confidence rebuilding after a difficult 2023.

“I think I have to believe more in myself, because I was also surprised to be there in the final honestly, so this can be really helpful for me in the next races.”

Returning Ellen van Dijk a huge asset to Lidl-Trek

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Ellen van Dijk was a huge help to Lidl-Trek as she continues her comeback from maternity leave with a stellar performance on the cobbles

Though Balsamo’s second is the result that will be remembered on paper, much of that is down to an extraordinary effort from Ellen van Dijk, who has returned from maternity leave and slotted straight back into her role of domestique de luxe at Lidl-Trek.

“Ellen was really, really strong and impressive, and she attacked a lot of times. She was just unbelievable,” Balsamo said of her teammate. “Then in the final, she was helping me 100 per cent and I really want to say thank you to Ellen and all my teammates and also all the team, because the bikes were perfect and after every cobbled sector we had staff with wheels and water. It was a really big teamwork today.”

Van Dijk took sixth on the line, and there was little regret about her race, which saw her attacking and involved all day long.

“I had the freedom to try and to go, so I was happy with that and I tried a couple of times,” she said. “It was hard for me to get away but I had to keep trying to get away. I had good legs and I am happy with my shape right now. This is a good race for me, it suits me and I was a bit scared ahead of this race for crashes, but I am really happy that I am still in one piece.”

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