Elisa Balsamo: "Today I won my favorite race. It’s a dream come true"

Elisa Balsamo has taken three consecutive wins at World Tour level in the last few weeks, as yesterday she kept her streak alive and growing at Gent-Wevelgem where she survived the day's climbs and went on to take another strong sprint win.

“Today, I won my favorite race. It’s a dream come true. I am very, very happy," Balsamo said after the finish. “The Kemmelberg was hard and steep, but my teammates helped me stay in a good position, and being in good position is very important. Then we decided to go for a sprint after the last time up Kemmelberg.”

With the race attacked on the slopes of the Flandrien hills, Balsamo saw herself on the backfoot as a group containing some of the race favourites went up the road. However it would come back together with team work, and with the interest of several teams in keeping the race compact: “We panicked a little bit, but Ina (team DS) was so good from the car and kept us calm. Then Ellen dropped back and closed the gap. She was incredible.”

“We were confident after the Kemmelberg, but it was not easy. In the last kilometers, there were a lot of attacks, but my Team was perfect and closed everything – they did a great job! They all were strong – Ellen, Elisa [Longo Borghini] and Shirin [van Anrooij], especially in the finale. I have a little bit of pressure when I have such a good team working for me, but I am feeling good. It seems the work I did this winter is paying off. We won this race because we were the best team and have the best team spirit – we are one team for one result," she concluded.