Scheldeprijs: Lorena Wiebes sprints to fourth straight title

Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-ProTime) powered to her fourth straight victory at Scheldeprijs, reasserting herself as the undisputed sprint queen of the women’s peloton.

It was Wiebes' seventh win of the season, following her success at Gent-Wevelgem 10 days ago.

Wiebes finished ahead of a noticeably improved Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), though Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) faded towards the finish and could only manage seventh position.

Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling’s Martina Fidanza rounded out the podium.

Known as the unofficial sprinters’ World Championships, the one-day Belgian Classic boasted a selection of the finest sprinters in the current peloton. The day began in wet conditions and dried up later on, but the race was beset with crashes, with several riders having to withdraw due to their injuries.

The expected bunch sprint came to pass and Wiebes once again stamped her authority, ensuring she remains the only ever winner of the women's Scheldeprijs since its introduction in 2021.

"The team did a really good job to chase back the breakaway, and we said up front that I would choose the wheel of Balsamo or Kool, and they both had less [of a] lead-out," Wiebes explained.

"In the end, I ended up in Kool’s wheel and Balsamo started on the left and at that moment I went on the right, so I think it was an honest sprint today."

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Wiebes indicates how many times she has won Scheldeprijs

A crash-ridden race

In wet conditions, 138 women rolled out from Schoten in Belgium, heading for what almost everyone expected to be a race ending in a bunch finish. As such, a selection of strong sprinters were among the riders on the start list, including the undisputed top two in the current bunch: Wiebes and Balsamo.

With 10 wins between them, Wiebes led Balsamo 2-0 head-to-head in races where the two have finished first, and with a total of just 215 metres of elevation to contend with, barring incident or accident, cycling fans looked forward to another tense battle between the two sprint queens.

It was Wiebes who was already queen of the race, though, having won all three previous editions, and she looked to continue her domination with a fourth straight victory.

Anneke Dijkstra of VolkerWessels Pro Cycling was the lone breakaway rider; the Dutchwoman bravely struck out after around 50km of racing and found herself alone when no one followed. The peloton held the gap at around 1:30 heading into the finishing circuit around Schoten.

The 17km circuit would be completed three times, and while things were calm for some time, the cobbles caused a couple of crashes, including a particularly nasty one for Lidl-Trek’s Ava Holmgren.

With less than 40km remaining, attacks began to launch, breaking up the peloton, with several teams keen to try something to avoid the inevitable bunch finish. Lotto-Dstny’s Wilma Aintila opened up a gap and began to chase down Dijkstra who still led solo, and AG Insurance-NXTG U23 Team’s Laura Sander also broke free of the bunch as they headed through the finish line once again, with the peloton around a minute behind, though she was later reabsorbed.

Another big crash just under 30km from the finish took out several riders at the back of the bunch, though most were able to remount and continue. With 24km to go, Aintila was finally able to join Dijkstra to make a lead duo, as another crash brought down yet more riders at the rear following a division in the road due to road furniture.

As the bell rang for the final lap, the pace at the front of the bunch increased and the advantage of Dijkstra and Aintila began to diminish rapidly. Yet another collision brought down several riders with 3km to go, but all eyes were on the front of the race as, with 1.5km remaining, the valiant breakaway duo were swallowed up by a charging peloton led by Team SD Worx-ProTime, ready to set up for the final sprint to the line.

Heading into the final 300m, the lead-out trains of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL and UAE Team ADQ were in pole position. As the finish line approached and Charlotte Kool launched her sprint, with Balsamo flanking her to the left, Wiebes popped off of Kool’s wheel and dropped the hammer, surging through to take the win, as Kool finished off a strong effort to come in second, and Balsamo appeared to fade.

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