Polish champion into late, winning break

Top allrounder from Movistar Team joins decisive, seven-woman escape including race victor Jip van den Bos (DLT), imitates good efforts by Biannic -7th at Het Nieuwsblad-, Fournier -4th in Omloop van het Hageland-.

The women’s Movistar Team grabbed its third top-ten finish in as many Belgian classics so far in 2019 at Tuesday’s Le Samyn, a demanding Walloon race over 102km from Quaregnon to Dour, where a main circuit (three laps) took the riders over several little climbs and no less than four cobbled sectors.

Małgorzata Jasińska again showed her perennial courageous spirit. After joining an early top split with 27 riders, also including Alicia González, Roxane Fournier and Aude Biannic, the Polish allrounder continued a previous attempt from Aude to join the decisive, seven-woman attack with 35km to go, alongside Romy Kasper (ALE), Barbara Guarischi (TVC), Daniela Gass (EQU), Demi de Jong (LSL), Laurietta Hanson (TFS) and eventual race winner Jip van den Bos (DLT).

‘Jasi’ finished at the back of that leading echelon for a very decent 7th, completing a Belgian opening week full of top-ten for the ladies directed by Jorge Sanz and Sebastián Unzué, which had Biannic -7th at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad– and Fournier -4th in the Omloop van het Hageland– as top performers. Roxane actually finished fifth inside the main peloton today, 12th in the results.

Cover picture (c): Sean Robinson / Vélofocus