The race with the necessary cobblestone sections and short, vicious climbs along the way remained closed for a long time. Halfway through Swinkels chose to attack. She got a maximum lead of twenty-five seconds before she was caught by the peloton. In the end, three riders managed to stay away. Swinkels, Nancy van der Burg and Romy Kasper crossed the line for Team Jumbo-Visma in the chasing peloton. Anna Henderson crashed and had to abandon the race.

“It was difficult to find each other in the peloton and to hold positions”, Karlijn Swinkels said. “I saw a moment to go on the attack because the speed was completely gone. It seemed like a good time to attack from the hectic peloton and to start the cobblestones sections at the front. In the final the pace was very high. As a result, we lost each other a bit before the final sprint. We learned a lot from this race. Physically we are all okay, it is now a matter of joining forces to start getting results together in the upcoming races.”

Sports director Lieselot Decroix concurred with Swinkels. “It was a hectic race due to the rain and the strong wind. Typical Flandrien weather. Early on in the race we lost Anna after a crash. After a check up in the hospital, the damage appeared to be not too bad. In the final we finished with three riders in the peloton. We learned a lot from this race and we are taking those learnings into next week’s races.”