Tactical blunder or team tactics: SD Worx-Protime defeated by young French talent

Célia Gery won the women's Brabantse Pijl on Friday. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) looked set to fight for the victory, but the pair were caught deep into a remarkable finale. In a sprint from a reduced bunch, the Frenchwoman from FDJ-SUEZ proved the fastest.

Before the men took to the course, it was the women's turn on Friday afternoon. They faced just over 125 kilometres between start town Lennik and finish town Overijse. The start list featured several big names, with the SD Worx-Protime squad particularly impressive — including Van der Breggen and Lotte Kopecky.

The opening phase looked calm at first, but after around 30 kilometres a breakaway of ten riders went clear. Among them were Adegeest and Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ). It was a dangerous group, so the bunch kept them on a short leash.

With 68 kilometres to go, the breakaway — which had never been given more than a minute — was caught on the Holstheide. But Adegeest refused to accept that. Soon after, the Dutchwoman attacked again.

Adegeest was joined by Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels) and the two compatriots built a lead of 30 seconds. The gap kept growing. Britt Knaven (Citymesh Customm) tried to bridge across but failed. By that point, Adegeest and Dijkstra had already opened up a lead of a minute and a half.

With 28 kilometres remaining, Franziska Koch (FDJ-SUEZ), the Paris-Roubaix winner, tried to and failed to escape. Shortly after, Van der Breggen succeeded where Koch could not. The Dutchwoman from SD Worx-Protime quickly bridged to the two leaders. Behind them, Persico launched a counter-attack.

The Italian found herself caught in no man's land and was eventually swallowed up again — or at least by what was left of the peloton, which had thinned considerably. At the front, Van der Breggen, Adegeest and Dijkstra looked set to contest the victory between them.

On the final pass of the Moskesstraat, Van der Breggen turned the screw. Dijkstra cracked. Adegeest hung on, though it appeared to take a huge effort. Another acceleration from Van der Breggen followed on the last ascent of the Holstheide.

Adegeest still had something left and held the wheel of her compatriot. With good blocking work from Lidl-Trek behind them, the pair probably didn't need to worry about the chasers. But then the tactical game started far too early — with more than six kilometres still to race.

Van der Breggen and Adegeest nearly came to a standstill. A surge from the chase group behind saw their lead shrink to 20 seconds. With two kilometres to go it was down to 13 seconds, largely because Van der Breggen had stopped doing any work at the front.

With 1.4 kilometres remaining, the game was up. The reduced bunch swept past. A sprint was now inevitable, and Van der Breggen immediately put in a big turn on the front. It was not enough. Gery beat Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) to take the win. A first professional victory for the Frenchwoman, who is also active in cyclo-cross during the winter.