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Lizzie Armitstead wins Tour of FlandersLizzie Armitstead after winning Tour of Flanders 2016 (Ronde van Vlaanderen Twitter video still).JPG

Lizzie Armitstead wins Tour of Flanders

Third win in five UCI Women's WorldTour races for world champion...
by Simon_MacMichael
Sun, Apr 03, 2016 14:59
5

World champion Lizzie Armitstead has continued her dominance of the inaugural UCI Women’s WorldTour by winning the Tour of Flanders this afternoon.

The Boels-Dolmans rider attacked on the day’s final climb, the Paterberg, with Swedish champion Emma Johansson of Wiggle-High5.

The pair teased out an advantage of around a quarter of a minute over a small chasing pack led by Orica-AIS.

Heading into the final kilometre of the 141-kilometre race, they still had an advantage of 9 seconds over their pursuers, Johansson sitting on Armitstead’s wheel and opening the sprint with around 100 metres remaining.

The women crossed the line together, the British rider taking the photo finish by little more than a tyre’s width, with her team mate Chantal Blaak leading the following group home.

It’s Armitstead’s third victory in five UCI Women’s WorldTour races so far this season, following wins at the Italian races the Trofeo Binda and Strade Bianche – and her Boels-Dolmans team have won all five.

Previoulsy, the Otley-born rider also won the UCI 1.1 ranked Belgian race, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, in what was her first outing in the rainbow jersey.

Lizzie Armitstead
Tour of Flanders 2016
UCI Women's WorldTour

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5 comments

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iandon | 8 years ago
0 likes

What a hard ride that must be.  Well done Lizzie!

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ibr17xvii | 8 years ago
0 likes

Fantastic effort in the sprint.

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HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
3 likes

Outstanding. British cycling is in fine shape.

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Simon E replied to HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
0 likes

HalfWheeler wrote:

Outstanding. British cycling is in fine shape.

Another great win by Lizzie.

But her individual success is not representative of British cycling, by which I guess you mean road racing. Closed circuit events are popular (though female participation is low) but it is increasingly difficult to run any event on the road - which is where road racers learn their craft. Sadly, at both national and regional leve, road racing is really only one step away from disappearing altogether.

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HalfWheeler replied to Simon E | 8 years ago
5 likes

Simon E wrote:

HalfWheeler wrote:

Outstanding. British cycling is in fine shape.

Another great win by Lizzie.

But her individual success is not representative of British cycling, by which I guess you mean road racing. Closed circuit events are popular (though female participation is low) but it is increasingly difficult to run any event on the road - which is where road racers learn their craft. Sadly, at both national and regional leve, road racing is really only one step away from disappearing altogether.

A fantastic worlds on the track just weeks ago, the current TdF champion, the current female world champion on the road, the current male hour record, GT winning Paris-Nice, British riders on the podium of classics, some fantastic young male and female talent coming through the ranks; there's a lot to be optimistic about.

I remember when successful world class British cyclists could be counted on one finger; Millar in the 80s, Boardman in the 90s, etc. Now GB punches well above it's weight despite the difficulties there is in holding open road events at grassroots level. 

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