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In a thrilling finish with the peloton breathing down their backs Ellen van Dijk out-gunned her breakaway partner Soraya Paladin (Canyon SRAM) to give Trek-Segafredo a perfect record to start the new season.
Trek-Segafredo went on the offense in a hilly Stage 2 of Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, a race peppered with opportunity for antagonists. First Elisa Longo Borghini slipped into a move after the category 1 climb early in the race, then Shirin van Anrooij joined three others in the first significant breakaway of the day.
The quartet gained over 45 seconds before they were brought back on the big finishing loop. This spurred off numerous attacks until Van Dijk and Paladin finally snapped the elastic.
The pair worked well together and with 10 kilometers remaining had pulled out a 45-second gap. They had time to play a tactical finish, with each rider trying to force the other to take the lead for the two-up sprint.
With the bunch in sight, Van Dijk was the first to give, taking the lead. In a gradual rise to the line, the positioning was mute: Ellen started her sprint and Palidin could not answer. In the end, the strongest legs won.
Ellen van Dijk: “Second win in a row for the team, it’s a bit of an unbelievable start to the season. We couldn’t wish for anymore really. The bar is set pretty high now, but we will enjoy this for as long as it lasts.
“For me, personally, it's also very good feeling to win so early in the season and actually, it’s really nice because I don’t win that many road races.
“It was once again a really fantastic day of teamwork. We had Shirin in the break before Elisa [Longo Borghini] set up really good attack in the descent. Then, when we reached the hill, the race really exploded. It was a really hard part of the race and then when everybody came back together, I thought, ‘this is the moment to attack’ so I wanted to make my move, but [Soraya] Paladin was kind of doing the same and, in the end, we went together.
“That was little bit difficult for me because I felt really strong, and I felt stronger than her, but I knew that I don’t have a good sprint, so I was thinking, ‘how do I get rid of her?’
“With just two riders, it’s really hard to attack but I knew the finishing straight was slightly uphill, so I thought, ‘OK let's give it a go there’ and then from the car they said that I had to do a long sprint which, for sure, made sense for me. I didn’t 100 percent trust my sprint, but I was just very happy that she was too tired to sprint against me.
“It's actually an amazing feeling to win in a sprint because I never do that. I think it's been 10 years or so and when I’ve won, I’ve won solo which is also nice, but this extra adrenaline is extra special.
“Overall, it was another really nice day and the team spirit is super high.”
Photo ©Sprint Cycling
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