Cycling, Bastianelli triumphs in the Omloop van het Hageland

Let’s call her the pioneer. Yes, because Marta Bastianelli with her sprints is baptizing the debut of her new team, the UAE Adq, the first Arab team in the WorldTour: an idea that came to Mauro Gianetti, the general manager of the UAE Emirates of Pogacar and now made with the support of another Ticino man, the former pro Rubens Bertogliati.
The structure comes from Alé Btc Ljubljana, Alessia Piccolo’s WorldTour team that Gianetti has completely taken over. And Marta Bastianelli perfectly understood the importance of this investment. For her, her third victory in three weeks: and I’m 38 in her career, not a few for a woman.

After the two in Spain in Valencia (the second beating the world champion Balsamo), today Marta Bastianelli is back to rejoice in “her” Belgium: here in 2019 she gave Italy an unforgettable afternoon, a few hours before Alberto Bettiol’s brace between the men. In the Omloop van het Hageland, 128 km in Tielt-Winge with 8 Muri, the Lazio rider defeated the Norwegian Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) and the Dutch Floortje Mackaij (Team Dsm): fourth was the Friulian Elena Cecchini (Sd Worx). And who knows, Marta Bastianelli’s thoughts of retirement at the end of the season, the desire for another motherhood: but can Italy deprive itself of such a champion, capable of winning with two generations of cyclists?

The words Bastianelli, very happy, explains: “On the roads of Belgium you always need a lot of attention, you have to run at the head of the group and be careful of the most important escapes. We risked being out several times, but I had some great companions like Laura (Tomasi) and Alessia (Patuelli), who pulled to death together with Eugenia (Bujak) to close the most important escapes. Sofia (Bertizzolo) and I were careful in the decisive escapes. In the final section in cobblestones this escape went away in which I managed to enter and we reached the finish line. The arrival was deadly, because in the last 6 kilometers there were a continuous series of attacks and therefore I had to mend these stretches several times, also fighting against the wind. I knew I had to grit my teeth and hold on to get a good sprint. I thank the whole team and we hope to continue like this also at the Strade Bianche on Saturday ”. Before the Gazzetta race, Bastianelli will compete again in Belgium at Le Samyn des Dames.