Intro:

Wiggle-Honda's Jolien D'Hoore wins the opening round of the UCI women's World Cup with victory in the Ronde van Drenthe on Saturday (14 March).

Script:

Jolien D'Hoore capped the best week of her career with her biggest win to date after sprinting to victory at Ronde van Drenthe on Saturday.

The Belgian road champion - who also won Belgium's Omloop van het Hageland race last Sunday (8 March) - claimed her first UCI World Cup victory on her 25th birthday.

The tough 138-kilometre race includes long sections of treacherous cobbles and three climbs of the VAMberg - one of the stranger hills in the Netherlands which gets steeper every year because it's made out of landfill.

A crash took out several riders midway through the race, including last week's Strade Bianche winnner Megan Guarnier .

Last year's winner Lizzie Armitstead signalled her intentions, cresting the final two climbs of the VAMberg at the front with only Lisa Brennauer for company.

But Armitstead was caught by a 15-strong group with 28 kilometres to go, and at the 10-kilometre mark, four riders had gained a 25-second advantage on the chasers - a pack which included D'Hoore.

The four lead women - including Wiggle-Honda's Elisa Longo Borghini - were then caught by not one, but two, chasing packs in the final 7.9-kilometre lap.
But it turned out that for Wiggle-Honda at least, this was all part of the plan.

The team ensured that D'Hoore was perfectly positioned to unleash her final sprint at the finish,

The ten-race women's World Cup series continues in Italy with the Trofeo Alfredo Binda on 29 March.