Ronde van Drenthe: Lorena Wiebes takes fourth successive title on the VAM-berg

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) sprinted to victory atop the VAM-berg on Sunday to win the Ronde van Drenthe for the fourth year in a row ahead of Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck).

Wiebes was present at the front of the peloton throughout the full 158km race and even went with Pieterse's attack on the penultimate climb up the VAM-berg with 30km to go. After that attack was brought back, the sprint was almost guaranteed and with Wiebes’ pedigree in the race and tough sprint finishes, it was to no one’s surprise when she pulled away from Balsamo on the uphill cobbled sprint to the line.

Outside of the sprint finish and Pieterse's attack, the race was an uneventful day with the added circuits around the VAM-berg offering a very narrow path for a breakaway to survive.

To make things even more straightforward, Valerie Demey (VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team) was the sole escapee for most of the day as the big sprint teams seemed content to wait for the finale to try and challenge SD Worx-Protime and Wiebes for the victory.

A simple day for the sprinters

From the beginning, the Ronde van Drenthe was always likely to end in a sprint finish as the 158km parcours was pan-flat beyond the six climbs up the landfill-turned-cycling park VAM-berg. With the likes of Wiebes, Balsamo and Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) on the startline, there was enough firepower to keep any big moves in check.

When Valerie Demey broke away without any riders joining her with still over 100km to go, that outcome seemed even more imminent, even with the gap extending over two minutes, as the prospect of a solo breakaway staying away was even slimmer than if there had been a group.

The race began to come alive in the run to the VAM-berg for the penultimate time as the narrow roads, constant change of directions and breeze stressed the peloton. The activity caused a few slight fractures in the peloton with the constant battle for position causing constant reshuffling in the field. That added impetus rapidly brought the gap down to the lone escapee before she was caught with 38km to go as the race broke apart once again in the cross-winds.

On the VAM-berg it was Puck Pieterse who finally put some impetus into the race with an attack over the cobblestones. That created the first real selection of the race with 30km to go, with Pfeiffer Georgi and Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Balsamo, Lorena Wiebes and Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime), Alice Towers (Canyon-SRAM) and Pieterse teammate Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck) all present as the race descended off the climb.

At first, the cohesion among the leading eight riders was suspect with Pieterse voicing her complaints. After a couple of kilometres, the group did get organised and rolled through consistently, however, the peloton coalesced behind them with UAE Team ADQ marshalling the front of the chase and pulling the group back with 19km to go.

After the catch, the race settled in, once again, to something of a procession until the final sprint up the first half of the VAM-Berg. While the group was smaller, the race resembled the previous laps racing around the loop's narrow roads. All of the teams seemed set, once the breakaway was brought to a heel, for a sprint finish.

The lead-out trains finally came alive with just under 2km to go, with Pfeiffer Georgi leading her dsm-firmenich PostNL sprinter Charlotte Kool into the perfect position before the final ramp to the line. Nevertheless, Lorena Wiebes was waiting and ready as Kool lost the front of the peloton. As they hit the cobbles and the final few metres to the line, Wiebes turned on the afterburners and breezed away from the rest of the sprinters.