Although there were a number of attacks during the 139.6 km race, the women's field stayed largely together, at least at the front of the race. The first hour saw numerous crashes, sending riders such as Amanda Spratt and Rikke Lønne of Team Rytger to the hospital as rain and nerves made the racing dangerous. Gracie Elvin and Valentina Carretta had a go, but could not gain even half a minute on the field, and while Carretta tried again with Lucinda Brand, as the race hit the critical final kilometers the peloton was still intact. The decisive moment came when Ellen van Dijk attacked with 27 kilometres to go, just before Kruisberg. She used her time trialling skills to keep the chasers at bay. Specialized-Lululemon's Tiffany Cromwell tried to go across, but was caught by the chase on the Oude Kwaremont. With only one climb to go, the Paterberg, Van Dijk's lead grew to 38 seconds. As Van Dijk continued to build her lead, Emma Johansson, Elisa Longo Borghini and Van Dijk's teammate Lizzie Armitstead, left the field behind but were never able to close on the powerful Dutch rider. Once the Paterberg was behind her, Van Dijk made easy work of the final 13 km to the line. The reigning world time trial champion hit a speed of 55 km/h as she powered to her first victory of the year and had built up an advantage of more than a minute by the time she finished. Armitstead's second place is her third podium of the year, from three world cup races, and will keep hold of the lead in the competition. Behind Van Dijk her Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team mate Lizzie Armitstead won the sprint of the chasing group ahead of Emma Johansson.
Reaction
Ellen van Dijk responded: "We came to the race with a super strong team today. I went, according to our plan, on the Kruisberg and kept it full blast. The old road, a hard climb with cobbles, is new to the race route and I knew that if I was strong I could make a gap there. After that I had to simply give it everything I had until the finish, a time trial to the line, and just hoping that it was enough. Lizzie was behind and I knew it would be really frustrating for Johansson and Longo Borghini that she would be able to finish off the work of the team, if they did manage to catch me. The way it turned out was really the ideal scenario. I came into form exactly at the right time to deliver this performance. Due to being sick in the winter, the spring campaign started slower than other years, but I kept feeling better and better every week. With this as an absolute peak. I'm unbelievably happy with it. If you've been so close so many times in the World Cup, it makes it so nice now I've won and great that it happened here in Flanders."
