Vos just misses out on a podium spot in first road race of 2025
Marianne Vos marked her return to road racing with a fourth place in Trofeo Alfredo Binda. The 37-year-old rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike made a strong impression on the hilly course in northern Italy and was just unable to compete for victory in the final sprint. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who recently finished third in Strade Bianche, also gave an excellent performance.
Fem van Empel represented Team Visma | Lease a Bike in a strong breakaway group, which was formed in the first of a total of six local laps. The 14 escapees grabbed a maximum lead of two minutes, but were caught by the peloton at 30 kilometres from the finish line.
Shortly after the leaders were caught, several riders saw their chance to attack. Vos and Ferrand-Prévot were alert and climbed with the best on the short but steep climbs. On the final climb of the Orino, both riders had to leave a small gap, but in the flat final kilometres the two front groups got back together.
"It's a pity that I just came up short in the sprint."
After good preparation work by Ferrand-Prévot, Vos tried to get involved in the final sprint, but the Dutchwoman got boxed in and missed out on a good sprint. She eventually had to settle for fourth place. "It's a pity that I just came up short in the sprint, because I would have liked to take a nice place of honour here", Vos said afterwards.
"Nevertheless, I am happy with the feeling. A first race like this is always a bit exciting. It was nice that we had Fem with us in the breakaway. Behind, we tried to stay sharp for the final, in which there were a lot of attacks. Our task was to keep control as much as possible. I think we succeeded well in that. Although the result could have been better, we can take this into the coming weeks."