Without Marianne Vos—who did not start due to illness—and Martina Fidanza and Margaux Vigié—who had to abandon the race early—the Belgian spring classic remained relatively calm for a long time. It wasn’t until the hill zone, with 70 kilometers to go, that the race truly came to life. Despite several splits in the peloton, no major selection was made just yet.

The pace ramped up again on the climb of the Eikenberg, leaving only a reduced peloton, with Van Agt and Von Berswordt still in contention. With 30 kilometers remaining, Longo Borghini launched a decisive attack and impressively held off the chasing group of favorites, soloing to victory.

“The riders performed really well”, said sports director Jan Boven with pride. “Without Marianne, we didn’t have a clear team leader today, and given that, it’s great to see Eva and Sophie holding their own in the favorites’ group. It’s especially encouraging to see Sophie getting back to her best and Eva continuing to show strong form.”

Von Berswordt was also pleased with the team’s performance. “Even though we were missing several riders, we raced well as a team and showed ourselves in the finale. It’s a shame we couldn’t play a bigger role in the final moves, but we were able to mix it up at the front.”

Next up is Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen, the next major Flemish Classic. Van Agt is looking forward to the challenge with confidence. “This race gives us a lot of confidence heading into Sunday, where we’ll be racing for Marianne and Pauline (Ferrand-Prévot). It’s extra motivation to ride for our leaders, and if we can perform like we did today, we can make it a great race on Sunday.”