SD Volks-Protime had to fight to catch up to Lotte Kopetsky and Lorena Wiebes on the final Kemmelberg climb.

They were three out of eight when a chase group of five, including Swiss champion Marlen Reusser, bridged to their SD Works-Protime teammates. Their decision not to push with this group, coupled with the crosswind to Ypres and the full tailwind to the finish, seemed puzzling.

"For a while Marlen was setting the pace, but the peloton was too close behind. She couldn't do it alone. And if I had started to switch too, I wouldn't have had enough strength when the sprinters came back," explained eventual winner Vives in a post-race interview.

Kopecký attacked on the first two climbs of the Baneberg and the Kemmelberg, and the peloton broke apart. However, when the group carrying Reusser crossed, it was still more than 30 km away and only 20 seconds behind the trailing peloton.

"That was the risk. Like I said, Marlen picked up the pace, but it wasn't enough to pull away from the peloton. And of course, we still had a long way to go," Wiebes continued.

The tailwind only picked up after passing Ypres, and for nearly 10 km they had to hold off a large group in a crosswind. And even if the group crossed the Ypres, it was far from guaranteed that they would be able to hold off the chasing pack until the finish.

"We talked to each other and a decision was made in the team car," Vives said.

Led by Lidl-Trek and DSM-Filmenig Post NL, the trailing peloton quickly closed the gap, leaving SD Walks Pro Time to control the pace to the finish with Reusser in charge and Lidl-Trek in charge of containing the attack.

Kopecky led Vives into a sprint in the long, flat finish, but Elisa Balsamo (Riddle-Trek) was unwavering, crossing the line alongside the Dutch sprinter.

Had Vives not won the sprint, the decision not to push would have been more severely questioned: all's well that ends well.

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