Spring was in the air around Gent, where the first spring classic of the season Omloop Het Nieuwsblad got on its way. Liv Racing TeqFind continued to make a strong impression with Quinty Ton finishing in the top-10 after a strong and hard race.
The peloton headed out Gent for a race over 132 kilometres. The first 80 kilometres the peloton stayed together. On the Molenberg the first accelerations split the peloton, but soon afterwards the first groups came together again. Liv Racing TeqFind was in the front with Silke Smulders, Rachele Barbieri, Marta Jaskulska and Quinty Ton at the moment.
One rider managed to get away with 26 kilometres to. She took a minute advantage, but with the Muur van Geraardsbergen coming up the gap was only 20 seconds. On that climb Lotte Kopecky bridged to the front and went on alone on the Bosberg. The Belgian rider soloed to the win, eleven seconds later Quinty Ton impressed with another strong sprint finishing seventh.
The result became even more impressive when the Dutch rider told her story about the race. “On the Molenberg, a crucial point in the course of the Omloop, I was positioned wrong. When approaching the Molenberg, I chose the inside bend, but there the peloton was standing still. And so I had to put my feet on the ground, which put me in the back. That made me angry, and I was keen to correct that in the rest of the race. Fortunately, I kept moving up in the race,” said Quinty Ton.
“After the Muur van Geraardsbergen, things went extremely well. I was in the strong group behind Lotte Kopecky. I knew through our communication system that Rachele Barbieri was riding in the group behind me, so I didn’t have to do much. Everyone knows Rachele is fast in the sprint.”
“If I had entered the sprint a bit smarter, I might have got a bit further. But anyway, I had already done a lot of work for the team and besides that I can just be proud. In Spain it was already going very well and now I achieved my first top 10 ranking in a UCI Women’s WorldTour race. That confirms that I am on the right track. Note that I wouldn’t even ride the Omloop. To have this result come out gives a nice feeling. My next race is the Strade Bianche, a completely different type of race. I’m going there with extra confidence.”