Kirchmann third in the Omloop van het Hageland
Canadian's first podium of the season in second race
The day after finishing the grueling Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Canada’s Leah Kirchmann took third in Sunday’s Omloop van Het Hageland in Belgium. Kirchmann gives Sunweb another podium in the young season, Coryn Rivera having also nabbed third in the last stage of the recent Setmana Ciclista Valenciana. Marta Bastianelli, second in Het Nieuwsbald, gave her Team Virtu a fine victory on Sunday.
Happy to land the first podium of the season for @TeamSunweb! ?#omloophageland https://t.co/asyZhz9YQ2
— Leah Kirchmann (@L_Kirch) March 3, 2019
While Bastianelli was battling Lotta Lepistö of red-hot Trek-Segafredo on the left side of the reduced bunch sprint, Kirchmann powered to third on the right, beating out French rider Roxane Fournier, new to Movistar this season.
Lotta is still in great form! She only just misses out on the victory in Omloop van het Hageland! Great race from the entire @TrekSegafredo team! #OmloopHageland pic.twitter.com/Q1VdMvzils
— Lotta Lepistö fans (@LepistoFans) March 3, 2019
Like the Cobbled Classics, this is Kirchmann’s season opener, her fourth campaign with the team.
The Women’s WorldTour finally gets underway on Saturday with the Strade Bianche in Italy. Teams have not released their lineups yet. Last year world champion Anna van der Breggen won her first of four WorldTour Spring Classics at Strade Bianche.
