2nd March – Omloop van het Hageland: Aarschot – Tielt-Winge
After Omloop het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, the women’s peloton were back in action on Sunday at Omloop van het Hageland. Taking place mostly over laps of a circuit, which featured some punchy climbs and cobbles, it was set to be an interesting day of racing as the attackers looked to upset the sprinters. As expected the attacks began to fly on the local lap and the bunch split, with Charlotte Kool making the first selection for Team Picnic PostNL. The gap quickly grew to over 30 seconds but as she was out-numbered ahead, the team tried to close the gap so that they could either launch more riders across, or things would come back together completely, but unfortunately that never happened. On the last time up the main climb the head of the race splintered even more, as Kool dug deep to try and cling on but just missed out as seven riders went clear. Kool returned to the peloton and the team desperately tried to close the gap down but in the end the leaders stayed away, with Kool comfortably sweeping up the bunch sprint behind for eighth place.
After the race Kool said: “It was a hard day as we expected. I’m really happy I could follow the best in the beginning of the race on the climb. Then everything came back together and the lap after another group went clear of 20 riders and I made it in. On the last lap i just couldn’t follow the best on the climb by a few seconds. In the end we sprinted for eighth place in the bunch behind the break. I’m just really happy as I felt so good and like myself again. For sure this race will also help me towards the other classics and get even better, so I’m looking forward to the next ones.”
