On sector five of Strade Bianche Anna van der Breggen forced the race to explode. After this sector, many attacks followed. What resulted was a group of 20 riders on the front of the race. With 47 kilometres to go a group of 11 riders remained with Karol-Ann Canuel amongst the leaders. With 45 kilometres till the finish line Mavi Garcia attacked and got 20 seconds. She extended her lead to 3’25 over a group of 6 followers with Karol-Ann riding a very strong race. For a brief moment, the Canadian rider was in second position behind Garcia. In the final 15km, Annemiek van Vleuten came to the front and overtook the group to chase Garcia. In the final 8 kilometres, Van Vleuten caught Garcia. Because of the lack of communications, we don’t know yet what happened behind the leaders in the final. Van Vleuten won the race for Garcia and Thomas. Anna van der Breggen finished fourth just 12 seconds behind Leah Thomas who completed the podium.
Karol-Ann Canuel looks back at the race: “I just wanted to represent the team at the front if possible. That would help to take some pressure off for our team. I felt pretty good today. I fought until the end. This was one of the hardest races for a while.”