American Shelley Olds takes second in women’s le Samyn
American Shelley Olds overcomes an ill-timed fall to record a second-place result in the women's le Samyn
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American Shelley Olds (Tibco-To The Top) delivered a second-place finish in Wednesday’s le Samyn des Dames in Belgium.
The 113-kilometer course, which took the riders from Frameries to Dour, ended with four loops around the finishing city. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-lululemon) grabbed the victory, with Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) taking third.
Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha) won the men’s race.
Tibco, according to a team press release, controlled the race in the first 45km. Three of its riders — Jasmin Glaesser, Claudia Hausler, and Samantha Schneider — swept the first intermediate sprint.
Olds was struck with a bit of bad luck when she lost her balance on the penultimate lap of the four-circuit finale and went down. Quickly re-mounting her bike, Olds was able to bridge the gap between her and a five-rider chase group that was frantically trying to catch van Dijk, who had broken away from the field.
Olds reached the chasers, and then the group was reduced to three. She was then able to hold off Johansson in the finish-line sprint to earn second place.
“I am very happy and incredibly proud of our Team Tibco riders,” Tibco director Manel Lacambra said in the release. “The team followed the race plan perfectly and took the lead for much of the race despite the freezing conditions, delivering Shelley to a second-place podium.”