Nine years after her first victory at the Tour of Flanders in 2015, Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) has won the women's 'Ronde' for the second time. The 32-year-old is now one of only five female riders to have won the race twice in 21 years of its existence. Together with her team-mate Shirin van Anrooij and Kasia Niewiadoma, Borghini rode onto the finishing straight in Oudenaarde, where the race had also started 163 kilometres earlier. Lidl capitalised on its numerical superiority there.
The trio started with the poker under the devil's cloth and van Anrooij, who had already lost a lot of energy after several attacks, opened the sprint from the front. Niewiadoma was able to pass the young Dutchwoman from behind, but Longo Borghini took advantage of the Polish rider's rear wheel to sprint to her second win of the season.
Van Anrooij travelling solo for a long time
Nine seconds behind, Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), who had won Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, won the sprint of the chasing group ahead of Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx - Protime) and Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck). Like her team-mates Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes, world champion Kopecky was unable to follow the decisive attack by Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini on the Paterberg 13 kilometres from the finish.
Van Anrooij had been riding ahead of the group of favourites since the Oude Kruisberg with a good 30 kilometres to go, from which she had initially broken away like Pieterse and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ). While the other two were caught again, van Anrooij remained in front as a soloist over the Oude Kwaremont and the Paterberg. It was only when her team-mate and Niewiadoma roared up from behind that she slowed down a little and teamed up with the duo.
Reusser with broken jaw
Her victory was very different to her first at the 'Ronde', said Italian champion Longo Borghini in the winner's interview. "I have the Tricolour on my shoulders and I'm a grown woman. When I won in 2015, I was just a child. Now I can realise much more consciously what I have achieved here."
The race had picked up speed early on. There was already plenty of action before the Koppenberg, where only a handful of riders did not have to dismount in heavy rain - similar to the men's race beforehand. However, a preliminary decision was not yet made there, although the field broke up into many small groups and even the favourites were not always at the front.
However, a crash after ten kilometres in the first cobblestone section was perhaps one of the decisive factors, as a result of which Marlen Reusser (SD Worx - Protime) had to leave the race with a broken jaw and Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) had to abandon with bleeding head wounds. Kopecky was also involved in the mass crash and was no longer in full possession of her strength as a result.
The top 10 of the 2024 Tour of Flanders for women
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) 4:16:04
- Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) +0:00
- Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:09
- Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx - Protime) +0:09
- Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:09
- Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) +0:09
- Demi Vollering (SD Worx - Protime) +0:15
- Letizia Paternoster (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) +1:40
- Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) +1:40
