Lorena Wiebes dominates sprint to win Ronde van Drenthe

Lorena Wiebes (DSM) made it 13 not-so-unlucky Saturday.

The Dutch supremo blitzed away from Elena Cecchini (SD Worx) and Eleonora Gasparrini (Valcar Travel&Service) in the finishing sprint to score her 13th win of the season at the Ronde van Drenthe.

The final of the race – which had been rearranged from its usual March slot – was dominated by Wiebes’ DSM team.

The winning selection of the arduous cobbled classic was made on the final ascent of the punishing VAM-berg ascent when Wiebes made it into a front group of seven. Team DSM had the luxury of four riders in the septet and worked hard to keep the escape away from the remains of the peloton.

With Wiebes one of the speediest sprinters in the bunch, Floortje Mackaij, Pfeiffer Georgi and Franziska Koch pulled on the front while their fast-finishing teammate sat on at the back in anticipation of the sprint.

The DSM worker-bees led the group into the flat finish in Hoogeveen and it was all-eyes on Wiebes to deliver. The 22-year-old stepped up in style, blasting away from her leadout rider and distancing Cecchini by several bike lengths as she won the final Women’s WorldTour race of the season.

Yes @lorenawiebes and team!!!🏆🎉

That’s a win for everyone! Just wow, what a super ride! 💪🏻#KeepChallenging #RondevDrenthe pic.twitter.com/sfwgfPxbnI

— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) October 23, 2021

The victory caps a storming season for Wiebes after she joined DSM in the middle of 2020. Her palmarès for 2021 includes two wins at both the Tour of Britain and Giro Rosa as well as the high-prized Scheldeprijs one-dayer.

Gasparrini, 19, scored one of the biggest results of her young career in placing third. The Italian also won the junior national road race and TT titles in 2019 and took gold in the European junior road race championships last summer.