Saturday 27 February 2016 16:23, UK
Britain’s Lizzie Armitstead marked her first race as world champion with a resounding solo victory at the one-day classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium.
The 27-year-old formed part of a leading duo alongside Gracie Elvin (Orica-AIS) but then forged clear on her own with about 10km remaining and held off the chasing peloton to win by 29 seconds.
Armitstead's Boels-Dolmans team-mate Chantal Blaak sprinted to second place, ahead of Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) in third.
Armitstead said: "That wasn't exactly the plan. I was out there way too long. Wow. I'm really happy.
"I wanted to break up the group and I ended up on my own. I don't know how it happened, really. It wasn't an attack. It was just messing around and people watching each other and not watching me, and so that was really cool."
Result
1 Lizzie Armitstead (GB) Boels-Dolmans, 3:25:00
2 Chantal Blaak (Ned) Boels-Dolmans, +29sec
3 Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Canyon-SRAM, same time
4 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Liv-Plantur, st
5 Shelley Olds (USA) Cylance Pro Cycling, st
