Dates 14 March 2015 Distance 138.3 km (85.94 mi) Winner Jolien D'Hoore (BEL) | Stages 1 Winning time 3h 33' 34" Second Amy Pieters (NED) | |
The 2015 Ronde van Drenthe World Cup was the 9th running of the women's Ronde van Drenthe World Cup, a women's bicycle race in the Netherlands. It was the first World Cup race of the 2015 UCI Women's Road World Cup and was held on 14 March 2015 over a distance of 138.3 kilometres (85.9 miles), starting and finishing in Hoogeveen.
Race
In the beginning of the race not really much happened. Everybody watched to each other and everybody mainly watched to the Boels–Dolmans. Not much happened at the cobbled stoned sections and also the wind did not caused major splits in the bunch. Finally the Boels–Dolmans caused a major split of the peloton at the VAM mountain and later at the narrow roads. At the start of the final lap of 7.6 km, four riders had an advantage on 12 chasers. Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM), Roxane Knetemann (Rabo Liv), Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda) all had teammates in the group behind and none seemed willing or allowed to back themselves. With cooperation amongst the four waning, the 12-strong chase group bridged the distance to the leaders.
A lull in pace at the front gave the second chase group, led by Alé Cipollini, an opportunity to merge with the first group on the road. An on-form Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv), Kirsten Wild (Hitec), who had punctured out of the leading group one lap earlier, and Bronzini were amongst the notable names in the second group. Boels-Dolmans kept the pace high, but the group of around 40 riders readied for a bunch sprint.
The Wiggle Honda team delivered d’Hoore perfectly positioned to unleash her sprint. Lizzie Armitstead lost Ellen van Dijk ,her lead out, in the sprint. The pace of the Wiggle Honda team was so high coming into the finish that Hosking and d’Hoore had a slight gap at the 150 metre mark when d’Hoore sprinted off Hosking’s wheel. No one could challenge d’Hoore once she opened her sprint. Ellen van Dijk, who sprinted for herself after losing Armitstead, rode to the third place.