Elise Chabbey was CANYON//SRAM Racing’s best placed rider in today’s GP Oetingen in Belgium, finishing in ninth position. After being in a mid-race breakaway, Elise was in the final breakaway of eighteen riders that stayed away until the finish, joined by teammate Lisa Klein. The race was won by Elisa Balsamo (VAL) from a small bunch sprint.

“We didn’t know how the race would go so we planned to follow attacks, keep good position and to go for Alice (Barnes) if it was a bunch sprint,” explained Elise.

“At the start of the race, I wasn’t feeling that good to be honest. So I decided to attack on the fourth lap and was with another three riders in a break for two laps.”

Elise continued, “As soon as that came back another group went with Lisa and myself. We both tried to save energy to attack on the last lap, Lisa on the cobbles and myself on the climb. But in the end it was still a big group for a final sprint. I tried to use my sprinting skills but I don’t know how to position myself and I was ninth. We tried to make it an aggressive race and use our options but in the end it didn’t work out for us for me to be in a sprint.”

Lisa echoed Elise’s sentiment.

“The result is not good, but the race we showed was. Elise and I were outnumbered in the final breakaway, and we’d both used up energy in the first half of race, either covering attacks or being in a break. I mean, I didn’t want to go into a group sprint against Balsamo or Jolien D’hoore because it wasn’t our best chance to win.”

“We tried to use our strength, I attacked on the final cobblestone section which was really ugly cobbles, and when it came back Elise tried on the final climb.”

“It was an important race, even if it doesn’t show in the results what we were aiming for. I liked how Elise and I raced together in the break. I also tested some things for the next cobblestone races and I’ll take some confidence with my attack on the last lap too,” added Lisa.