News Roundup: D’hoore wins De Panne, Craddock second in Italy

Here’s your News Roundup for Thursday, March 22. This is our way of keeping you up to speed on all of the stories circulating in the world of pro cycling. Stay tuned for more as the season heats up!

D’hoore opens up account with Mitchelton-Scott

Jolien D’hoore took her first win of 2018, riding for her new team Mitchelton-Scott at Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne in Belgium Thursday. The 151-kilometer race was marked by a number of crashes on a windy, rainy day. D’hoore’s teammate Gracie Elvin avoided the trouble and made the day’s early breakaway. She and Mieke Kroger (Virtu) were finally caught by the bunch with about 1.5km to go, setting up the bunch sprint.

“It was a very nervous race. I was not sure if we were going to catch the front riders so I just focused on the sprint, even if it was for the seventh or eighth place, that didn’t matter,” said the Belgian champion D’hoore.

“There was a lot of wind today and that occasionally caused splits,” she continued. “It is the first time that we can start here in this race, so it was a new course for everyone and in the end, no team really took matters into their own hands. That made it very chaotic, especially the last corner.”

Chloe Hosking (Ale-Cipollini) was second, and Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) was third in the one-day Women’s WorldTour race.

Craddock second in Coppi e Bartali stage 1a, holds second overall

American Lawson Craddock finished second in stage 1a of the four-day Coppi e Bartali race in Italy. The EF Education First-Drapac rider made the day’s pivotal move with Dutch rider Pascal Eenkhoorn (LottoNL-Jumbo). The Dutchman won the final sprint, and they both finished 1:07 ahead of the peloton. After the team time trial held later that day, Craddock sat second overall. The EF team was seventh in stage 1b. Friday’s stage 2 is hilly but not mountainous. They’ll have a sprint stage Saturday and a 12.5km individual time trial Sunday, which could favor Craddock.

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De Vos loses yellow at Langkawi

After holding the overall lead at Tour de Langkawi, Canadian Adam De Vos (Rally) finally ceded the yellow in a tough day of climbing to Cameron Highlands Thursday in Malaysia. He lost 3:34 to the Russian winner Artem Ovechkin and is now well behind in the overall. The race has three stages remaining, all of which are relatively flat compared to stage 5’s finish at 1,438 meters above sea level.

“I am pretty good at putting myself in the box and suffering, but that was up there. I’ve been sitting on the ground for 15 minutes already and I don’t plan on getting up anytime soon!” De Vos, winner of stage 3, told Eurosport’s Aaron S. Lee.

Thwaites breaks vertebrae in training crash; Dillier out of classics with broken finger

We’ve seen a number of notable rider injuries in the past few weeks, with Fernando Gaviria out of the classics prior to Milano-Sanremo and Andre Greipel leaving Sanremo with a broken collarbone and no cobbles in his near future. Adam Yates is also recovering from a broken pelvis.

Dimension Data’s Scott Thwaites crashed on a training ride, and the team says he suffered a back injury: “He sustained several fractures to his vertebral column, but fortunately there were no neurological injuries. He underwent successful spine stabilization surgery on Tuesday night, without complication.”

Ag2r La Mondiale’s Sylvain Dillier is also out of the classics due to a broken finger. The injury happened two weeks ago at Strade Bianche. Dillier abandoned the Italian one-day race in early March.

“[Dillier] can train, but a return to the pavé in the context of competition is no longer possible,” said the Swiss rider’s team doctor, Eric Bouvat.