Charlotte Kool 3rd after hectic sprint finale at Gent – Wevelgem

Cobbles, climbs and crosswinds awaited Team Picnic PostNL’s Women’s program on Sunday afternoon at Gent-Wevelgem. The race settled into a familiar pattern with an early break going clear, but coming through the exposed roads at De Moeren, they were caught as the bunch split into pieces. However, things regrouped and the next phase of the race started over the climbs, where a natural race of attrition occurred.

Inside the last 40 kilometres attacks peppered the front of the race, with Charlotte Kool and Pfeiffer Georgi making a reduced front peloton after the final climb. However, a slow pace then allowed for another group to return with Megan Jastrab and Franziska Koch joining their teammates in the peloton as they charged towards the finish. The larger group made for a hectic and chaotic run-in, with the proverbial washing machine in full effect. After being dropped off by the team, Kool was able to weave her way through before kicking in the sprint, taking a fine third place on the day.

After the finish Kool said: “We came over the Kemmelberg well and was in a group with Balsamo, which was good, as we knew she also would have wanted it to come down to a sprint, but then in the end the groups from behind came back. It was a pretty hectic sprint because it was a larger group than normal but everyone was tired after a long day. I’m quite satisfied, third was the highest possible today. I gave it my all in the finish. I think if I started the sprint a bit further forward it might have been closer, but that’s also part of sprinting too. I had some good races already but today was the first podium in a big race so it’s nice. The form is on the up and that’s what we need for the rest of the season.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Albert Timmer added: “We had a few key points that we needed to improve from the last race and I think we succeeded quite well at that. On the Kemmel it was quite honest, and we weren’t really in position at the start, so we were not in the best five over the top. The good thing was that we had Charlotte and Pfeiffer in the group just behind so we were always in control of the situation. In the final we also had Megan and Franzi come back. We did the lead-out too early but we managed to get Charlotte into a position and she could sprint. In the end I saw a lot of positive things and I’m pretty happy that we got a podium out of that. It gives us something to build on for the upcoming races.”