The prestigious Omloop van Borsele was won this year by UAE Development Team’s young Swiss rider Linda Zanetti. She was able to attack and cross the line solo by staying ahead of the peloton in the final kilometres. A late crash also helped her stay away but there was no disputing that Zanetti was the strongest rider on the day. Zanetti joins the ranks of Lorena Wiebes, Elisa Balsaamo and Kristen Wild in winning in Borsele.
Unfortunately not televised and with most attention focused on Liege Bastogne Liege tomorrow, the women’s peloton visited Borsele for a 1.1 race against the coast to the west of Antwerp. 133 kilometres were raced, a solid amount as women’s races are getting longer, with the finish on the Kuijpersdijk in ‘s-Heerenhoek. An early break was tough to form but Linda Zanetti and Lente Boskamp briefly got themselves a gap early on but the peloton caught them again. Next to try were Elisabeth Ebras and Ines van de Paar but again they weren’t allowed much leeway. The first serious break came from Anastasia Carbonari of UAE Development who got a gap of 30 seconds before the sprinter teams work up and pulled her back into the pack.
EF Education-TIBCO’s new signing Femke Beuling attacked again and was joined by Linda Zanetti, clearly keen to forge a gap rather than sprint. Beuling is considered to be a rider with a fast finish and so it was no surprise that Zanetti attacked her breakaway companion with 5km to go to the finish. Their lead was just 15 seconds at this point. The advantage was still with the pack at this point but it wasn’t to be as the Swiss rider took the first pro win of her young career.
Human Powered Health’s recent signing Audrey Cordon-Ragot took 2nd ahead of Team Coop-Hitec Products’ Nora Tveit in 3rd place, the 2nd year in a row the Norwegian took the bronze spot.
2023 Omloop van Borsele result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
