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Alison Jackson wins mountains classification of Ronde van Drenthe

Amy Pieters gives Boels-Dolmans victories in the first two Women's WorldTour races

March 11, 2018
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The second race of the 2018 Women’s World Tour rolled on Sunday, with Dutchwoman Amy Pieters of superteam Boels-Dolmans taking the sprint win in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands. That’s two wins in a row for Boels-Dolmans after Anna van der Breggen’s victory in last week’s Strade Bianche. Canadian Alison “Action” Jackson of Team TIBCO-SVB earned the mountains classification by cresting the Vamberg twice in first place.

Originally the course was supposed to be 157.7-km with eight sections of cobbles and four climbs of the short, steep Vamberg just after halfway through the course, with mountain points offered on climbs two and four. But the muddy cobbles of Sections 6 and 7 were deemed too dangerous in the sodden conditions and taken out, cutting the race by 3-km.

Jackson was first over the top on the two crests that counted and seized control of the situation.

There were plenty of crashes, with Dutuch world champion Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) hitting the tarmac, and Sunweb’s Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands) going down twice, the second time forcing her to climb off the bike. Sunweb took some consolation from taking three of the top-10 places and the cobbles classification.

Pieters had to sprint from far out, holding off American Alexis Ryan of Canyon-SRAM. Pieters’ compatriot Marianne Vos was back in the mix with fifth place for Waowdeals in her first race of the year.

https://twitter.com/wcstats/status/972836915903901697

Jackson placed 62nd, 3:40 back. Her teammate and fellow Canadian Lex Albrecht was among the 51 riders who did not finish.

Van der Breggen came 21st and keeps her WorldTour lead.

The next WorldTour race is next Sunday at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio in Italy.