The women’s match of Classic Brugge-De Panne degenerated into chaos on Thursday. The Belgian fan race was marred by several crashes and even had to be stopped for a while. When the clouds of dust had lifted, the British Pfeiffer Georgi soloed to victory.
The wind was blowing strongly on the Flemish coast and that had a significant influence on the course of the competition. The race was startled halfway by a massive crash. So many women went down that the match had to be neutralized.
The Italian former world champion Marta Bastianelli found herself in a ditch, but was able to continue without too many injuries. That did not apply to her compatriot Letizia Paternoster and the Dutch Ilse Grit. They were taken to hospital.
After the course resumed, the field fanned out. A group of ten women remained in the front. There were two Dutch riders: sprinter Lorena Wiebes and track specialist Maike van der Duin. The Italian world champion of 2022 Elisa Balsamo was also present.
Ugly fall in leading group
At 10 kilometers from the finish this group broke in two. In the back section, Alice Barnes went down hard. She dragged the Belgian talent Julie De Wilde into her fall. The two women were conscious, but were left badly battered on the asphalt.
Georgi from Team DSM accelerated at the front. The 22-year-old British made a hole and ran further because her pursuers did not work well together. She soloed convincingly to the biggest victory of her career.
Behind that, Balsamo was surprisingly the fastest in the sprint for second place. Top favorite Wiebes had to settle for third place.
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