Marianne Vos rode into Ypres, the start of Ghent-Wevelgem, as the defending champion and an unknown quantity who has only competed on the road once this season.

Despite a top-10 finish at Strade Bianche, the leader of Jumbo Visma was unable to race at last weekend's Trofeo Alfredo Binda due to illness.

A week after the Tour of Flanders, Vos was back in Ghent-Wevelgem, and although he had to settle for second place, losing a sprint to an in-form world champion like Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) was no disgrace It is not.

"I have a bit of a cold and it was not wise to go to Italy for last weekend's race (Binda). Instead, I worked hard to recover for these races and I am very happy to be racing here again," Vos said.

"Of course, I always want to win, but I think I can be happy with second place today.

Vos finished as part of a 50-person pack at the finish in Wevelgem. Her Jumbo-Visma teammate joined the attack into Wevelgem before Colin Labecki put her in position for a group sprint.

As the group spread out across the road, she managed to find a breakaway and surged to the right as Balsamo, winner of the last three World Tour races, closed the distance from the left side, but was unable to fend off the world champion at the line.

"In hindsight, it's always easy to do something different, but this sprint was pretty difficult.

"It's not easy to make mistakes. Elisa was faster. I caught up a little bit, but I couldn't go any faster. Elisa is very fast and she is in very good shape right now."

As for Vos' own condition, she is clearly in good shape, considering how few races she has. The Classics season continues with the Tour of Flanders on Sunday before the Dwars door Hlaanderen on Wednesday and the Amstel Gold Race on April 9.

"I was concerned about my form, so this is a good result and bodes well for the coming weeks.

"The atmosphere is very good. The team structure is at a very high level. The players are doing great. It is motivating for us as well."