Elisa Balsamo of Lidl-Trek took her fourth victory of the 2025 season on Wednesday at Scheldeprijs. She powered home after a perfect lead out from her team to beat Charlotte Knol of Picnic-PostNL and Chiara Consonni of Canyon//SRAM Zondacrypto.
After the finish a delighted Balsamo said: “This victory is really important for me because finally I could finalize all the work that my teammates have been doing in this first part of the season. They always do an amazing job and I’m super happy that today I could win. We were really happy with Anna in the breakaway because she is strong and she is also fast so she could win from the breakaway, but in the end they closed the gap. My teammates did an amazing leadout again and I am super happy that I could win. In the last weeks I was a lot of times on the podium, but winning is a really nice feeling.
She ran through the chaotic finish that meant the breakaway was finally caught:
“It was a little bit chaotic because we were not sure if they would catch the breakaway, but then Anna was in the perfect position and Lizzie and Clara did an amazing leadout. We were unlucky that Yaya crashed, but they all did an amazing job as always. I think I was always in front but I need to check again the sprint. I just tried to do the best sprint possible and I’m happy.
I still have some races here in the north, I want to think about these races and then we will think about the rest of the season.”
Balsamo will line up at Paris Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift on Sunday, a race she finished 2nd in last season.
Results of Scheldeprijs
1. Elisa Balsamo. Lidl Trek
2. Charlotte Kool. Team Picnic-PostNL
3. Chiara Consonni. Canyon//SRAM Zondacrypto
4. Barbara Guarischi. Â SD Worx Protime
5. Kathrin Schweinberger. Human Powered Health
6. Silvia Zanardi. Human Powered Health
