Tour of Flanders Ladies – Dwell Protection

Makayla MacPherson (Human Powered Health) is having trouble staying with the group 

The leading four riders have 2 minutes on the peloton. Meanwhile four more have countered from the peloton: 

Makayla MacPherson (Human Powered Health)

Katrijn de Clercq (Lotto Soudal)

Lotte Popelier (Bingoal Casino – Chevalmeire – Van Eyck Sport)

Naomi De Roeck (Bingoal Casino – Chevalmeire – Van Eyck Sport)

At 1 minute

124km to go

World Champion, Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo), is one of the out-and-out favourites for the win today. She has won the previous three rounds of the women’s WorldTour and if she can get over the climbs she will be hard to beat in a sprint.

SD Worx have other ideas, however, they plan to drop the Italian and isolate another of the pre-race favourites: defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) 

But, “good luck with that” says Balsamo’s teammate, Ellen van Dijk. 

The gap to the four leaders has now gone out to 1’18 

130km to go

The chase group have now been caught 

A chase group of three riders is now 42″ behind the break. The peloton is 50″ behind.

Reminder that the four riders are:

Clara Honsinger (EF Education – Tibco – SVB), Sofie van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Olivia Baril (Valcar – Travel & Service), Maria Martins (Le Col – Wahoo)

The break is now down to 4 riders with a 30 second gap 

139km to go

The gap is already being brought down, it is now 16 seconds. 

Elise Chabbey of Canyon SRAM has crashed 

5 leaders have a 23 second gap, they are: 

Clara Honsinger (EF Education – Tibco – SVB), Sofie van Rooijen (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Olivia Baril (Valcar – Travel & Service), Maria Martins (Le Col – Wahoo), Kristyna Burlova (Lotto Soudal).

Two riders have a small gap 

After 5km of racing the peloton are all together 

144km to go

The riders will complete three difference loops. The first contains two cobbled sectors starting after 45km 

🏁 they’re off 

159km to go

They’re off for the neutral rollout!

This is officially the cutest thing ever 

All of the favourites are still in the running, however. To see which 10 riders to watch click here. 

Liane Lippert (Team DSM) and Nina Kessler (BEX) will not start today due to illness 

It’s going to be a wheelie good race…

At 13:25 local time the riders will roll out of Oudenaarde for 4.6km of neutral 

30 minutes to go until the flag drop 

Amongst the pre-race favourites is SD Worx’s Demi Vollering, who is returning to racing for the first time since Strade Bianche in March

The snow has finally stopped in Belgium but it’s still pretty cold out there: 6°C 

158.6km of climbs and cobbles await the women’s peloton today including, for the first time, the hallowed slopes of the Koppenberg. 

There are 11 climbs and 11 cobbled sectors in total. 

Things are already off to a great start 

We’re in Oudenaarde for the 19th edition of the women’s Tour of Flanders 

Welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of the 2022 Tour of Flanders Women.