OTLEY'S Lizzie Armitstead failed in her quest to win the punishing Tour of Flanders road race in Belgium.

The Olympic silver medallist had talked of her determination to land the prestigious title in the run-up to the big race, placing it as a higher priority than defending her UCI Women's World Cup title.

The 145km route took in cobblestone sections and ten climbs but Armitstead's chances were scuppered by an early puncture and then a snapped pedal cleat in the closing sprint.

She ended up finishing eighth, 45 seconds behind winner Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy, losing her lead in the World Cup standings in the process.

Borghini, 23, made up for finishing fourth in the last two years, with her Belgian Wiggle-Honda team-mate Jolien D'hoore taking second place. Rabo-Liv rider Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands finished third.

D'hoore is the new leader of the World Cup after three rounds. Armitstead, with the Boels Dolmans team, had gone top of the 2015 standings following last month's victory in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Italy.

Team Sky's Geraint Thomas had to settle for 14th place in an incident-packed men's race as Norwegian Alexander Kristoff took victory in a sprint finish with Holland's Niki Terpstra.

With Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara – winners of six of the last ten races here – missing through injury, Thomas was one of the favourites to claim the title following his recent victory in E3 Harelbeke and third-place finish at the Gent-Wevelgem sprint classic.

He was in contention for much of the race as Team Sky set the pace in the peloton for lengthy periods, but the Welshman was unable to recover ground as Kristoff (Team Katusha) and Terpstra (Etixx - Quick-Step) launched a late breakaway.

The highly-fancied Kristoff came home in a time of six hours, 26 minutes and 38 seconds, with Terpstra just behind and local hope Greg van Avermaet of Belgium (BMC) seven seconds back in third.

Thomas, looking to become only the second Briton to win the event after Tom Simpson in 1961, finished in the chasing pack almost a minute back.