Classic Brugge-De Panne: Elisa Balsamo sprints to victory in fast finale

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to victory in the Classic Brugge-De Panne to take back-to-back Women’s WorldTour victories in 2024, beating Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) in a big group sprint.

Kool had a textbook lead-out from her dsm-firmenich teammates, but didn’t have the speed in the finale, settling for second behind the Italian. Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) picked up third on the line.

It was an unusually still day in Belgium, lacking any of the fierce crosswinds that often tear this race apart, which made for a much more straightforward day for the sprint teams and their leaders.

After various attacks throughout the day, the final move came from Nina Buijsman (FDJ-SUEZ), who had a risky one-minute advantage with 15km to go, but she was safely brought back ahead of the expected sprint finish.

With Lorena Wiebes and SD Worx-Protime skipping the race due to injury, Balsamo and Kool were always the favourites if the race came down to a sprint, and in the end, it was the Italian who proved to be the fastest.

• Read more: Trofeo Alfredo Binda: Elisa Balsamo outsprints Lotte Kopecky to claim second title

“I’m very happy, I’m feeling good and this is the most important thing,” Balsamo said at the finish, celebrating her second win in a matter of days after some difficult spells in the past year.

“After last year, it was really not easy to come back. But I feel like the team really trusts me and I’m really happy.

“My teammates did an amazing lead-out and they put me in the best position behind Kool, and then when I saw 200m I just went full gas.”

Rotating attacks make for tense day in Belgium

As was to be expected on the pan-flat course, the first part of the women’s Classic Brugge-De Panne was largely uneventful, though the action did kick off in the second half of the race, despite the lack of crosswinds. There were attacks, but nothing could stick for the first 40km of racing, with teams cautious about who could go up the road.

Eventually, one rider did get away in the form of Nathalie Bex (Chevalmeire) who set off alone after 45km of racing. Finally happy to let up, the peloton allowed the Belgian’s rider’s advantage to stretch out to a minute and a half as they neared to 100km-to-go mark.

The race seemed to settle down for a while, but it wasn’t long before the big teams started to set the pace again. The peloton was soon stretched out, and with 95km to go Bex’s advantage tumbled rapidly and she was reeled back in, almost immediately prompting a counter-attack. The bunch threatened to split at this point, but just about held together and regrouped for a few kilometres.

The next attack to get away was the duo of Alessia Vigilia (FDJ-SUEZ) and Lisa van Helvoirt (VolkerWessels), and they were out front for almost 20km, but the charging peloton also brought them back with 63km to go. Things just wouldn’t let up in the bunch, with a few more riders briefly going clear but being brought back just as quickly as the peloton fought back against any notion of a straightforward bunch sprint day.

With just over 55km to go, Gladys Verhulst-Wild (FDJ-SUEZ) went on a solo move, and a lull in the action meant she was able to get a small gap, though perhaps because she wasn’t a big threat on her own. Predictably, the situation didn’t remain stable for long, with a strung-out peloton catching the Frenchwoman as they began the final lap.

Another attacking 10km followed before things calmed going into the final 30km as the sprint teams lined up on the wide roads. The teams without top sprinters weren’t content to just sit back, though, and it was a tense battle between the lead-out trains and the opportunists in the finale. Nina Buijsman was away for a while for the ever-aggressive FDJ-SUEZ team, and it looked for a time like the peloton might have given her too much of a gap, especially when a crash disrupted their momentum.

With 15km to go, Buijsman’s lead had grown to a minute, which was risky and finally spurred the bunch into action, led by dsm-firmenich PostNL in support of Kool. Once they started riding, the once-threatening gap quickly tumbled, and Buijsman was caught with just over 6km to go as the lead-outs amassed.

Kool’s dsm-firmenich PostNL team were in control for much of the run-in, jostling for position with Lidl-Trek and only drifting from the front around a tricky roundabout. Kool still had two leaders with 700m to go, and it looked like her lead-out was going perfectly, but when Balsamo launched off of her wheel, her speed was too much for the Dutchwoman to match, and Balsamo sailed to victory by a bike length.

Kool held on for second, whilst Daria Pikulik just edged Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) to take third. Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) sprinted to sixth on her season debut, just ahead of Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) who is eyeing up Gent-Wevelgem success.