Marta Bastianelli wins Tour of Flanders

The 31-year-old won the 16th edition of the Belgian classic and extended her lead over Kirsten Wild in the Women's World Tour rankings.

European champion Bastianelli claimed her third victory of the season, with other wins coming in the Omloop van het Hageland and the Ronde van Drenthe in March.

The race came alive on the Oude Kwaremont, with multiple attacks leading to four of the bunch making their way towards the next climb.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Canyon-SRAM dropped out from the quartet that formed after the Oude Kwaremont as the group headed towards the climb of the Paterberg, leaving the trio that ended up claiming the podium places.

Mitchelton-Scott rider Van Vlueten attempted an attack, but Bastianelli and Uttrup Ludwig prevented the Dutch rider from creating too much distance.

The Italian, who was donning the rainbow stripes on her jersey, bided her time before sprinting past Van Vlueten in the final stretch.

The women's Tour of Flanders road race was 159.2km long, featuring ten climbs and four cobbled sections.

Bastianelli became the second Italian to win the annual road race since the first edition in 2004, with Elisa Longo Borghini winning the event in 2015.

An early crash involving 2017 winner Coryn Rivera of Team Sunweb and some members of Boels-Dolmans left the American unable to continue and forced her to abandon the race. However, Subweb confirmed that Rivera suffered no fractures from the collision on the roundabout following an x-ray.