Round 9 at Val di Sole. Apart from a short road section for the start/finish, it was all snow and ice in sub-zero temperatures. At least the sun was shining.
The races had some big names missing. No Baloise Trek or 777 riders at all, so Lucinda Brandt and Annemarie Worst absent, as well as Carmen Alvarado and Blanka Vas.
Fem van Empel, Denise Betsema, Marianne Vos and Maghalie Rochette formed the lead group from the start, but Rochette dropped back and Puck Pieterse joined. On lap 2 (of 5) Pieterse came off, and so did her chain. The time taken to replace it cost her and she never showed at the front again. Soon after, Vos also lost her chain. It jammed in the frame and although she eventually got it back on she had lost lots of time and places. The leaders were now van Empel, Betsema and Rochette. Rochette was closing on Betsema, but the race was completely unpredictable with one particular long, straight, slightly downhill section causing many falls and slides. Rochette got ahead of Betsema, and home favourite Eva Lechner was also closing up along with Vos.
At the start of the last lap, Van Empel's lead was reducing, and Vos was flying. She was now third, and catching Rochette for second place. Betsema was dropping back, and Lechner caught her. Vos moved into second, but fell and lost some of the time she'd gained. She remounted and was soon closing again. With two corners left, she was level with van Empel and forced her way in front by taking the inside line. As she rounded the corner, her shoulder collided very heavily with a fence post, and she fell. Van Empel was blocked behind Vos and her bike, but as Vos got up and righted the bike van Empel saw a gap and went through it. By the time Vos was pedaling again, she had lost a few vital seconds and the chance of victory had gone. Van Empel won only her second ever race (the first was the U23 World Championships), Vos second and Rochette third.
No Brits in this one.
The men's race also lacked some big names, but did have Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock.
Michael Vanthourenhout took a small lead, but the pack were not far away with van Aert at the head of it. By the second lap (of 7) van Aert was in front, with Vanthourenhout struggling to hold on. Eli Iserbyt who had also been riding strongly, started to lose time. Pidcock was now in a fight for 5th and 6th places, and by the fourth lap was challenging for 4th with Quinten Hermans, and both were catching Iserbyt. Iserbyt made a mistake, and Pidcock went into 3rd, but on a running section was in turn overtaken by Iserbyt. Pidcock fought back, and passed him again.
Van Aert and Vanthourenhout were now comfortable in first and second, though both were still slipping and sliding so nothing could be taken for granted.
Iserbyt fell, but a huge effort saw him closing on Pidcock. Then Iserbyt fell yet again, and seemed resigned to 4th place.
Van Aert won easily, Vanthourenhout and Pidcock made the podium.
British results: Pidcock 3rd, Ben Turner 19th,