The fourth stage of the Vuelta Femenina was defined by crosswinds, with SD Worx-Protime taking the initiative to split the race apart with 114 km to go. With six kilometers to go, attacks started from the front group, and a move by Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) was the one that shook the race.
Faulkner won the stage 10 seconds ahead of Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco), with Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinting to third. Faulkner's narrow solo win marks the second stage victory for her EF squad this week. While a handful of GC favourites successfully kept their general classification hopes alive, some top favourites lost time in the echelons, including Liane Lippert, Mavi García, and Gaia Realini.
Vos pulled on the red leader's jersey at the end of the stage with Blanka Vas in second place, five seconds behind, and Faulkner third another four seconds down, before the race heads into the mountains on stage 5.
- Any riders who tried to attack early in the stage were thwarted with crosswinds on the menu. The peloton was all together with 122 km to go and the winds shifted soon after. With 115 km to go SD Worx-Protime lined up at the front of the peloton and split the race.
- Many of the top favourites made it into the lead group, including Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Juliette Labous (DSM Firmenich-PostNL) and of course the team that split the race with red jersey wearer Blanka Vas, Demi Vollering, Marlen Reusser, and Niamh Fisher-Black.
- The front group of 19 also included Vos, who took maximum bonus seconds with 12 km to go, which meant the Visma-Lease a Bike rider moved into the virtual lead before the finish.
- Once the sprint points were behind them, attacks started in the lead group, first from Vollering, but then by Faulkner. Faulkner's attack reached speeds of 67 km/h and even with the chase behind no one could catch the American who rode solo to the line 10 seconds ahead of Baker.
- With her bonus seconds taken mid-stage and her seconds won at the finish, Vos took the red jersey from Vas going into stage 5.
Stage Top 10
[race_result id=9058 stage_id=81300 count=10 gc=0]GC Top 10
[race_result id=9058 stage_id=81300 count=10 gc=10]Other notes
- Unfortunately, Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) didn't start the fourth stage following her stage 1 crash. Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) was also a DNS pre-stage.
- Teams that missed the split – either with their main GC contender or in some cases entirely – included: Movistar (Sheyla Gutierrez made it, Lippert did not), FDJ-Suez (all missed), UAE Team ADQ (Erica Magnaldi made it, Karlijn Swinkels behind), Liv AlUla Jayco (Georgia Baker and Silke Smulders made the front group, but without Garcia), Lidl-Trek (Longo Borghini in front, but not Realini), Fenix-Deceuninck, Uno-X Mobility, Roland, Human Powered Health, and AG Insurance-Soudal. Kim Cadzow also missed the move for EF, but with Faulkner there, the team's GC hopes are still alive.
- In the end, the second group containing Realini, García, Cadzow and others finished two minutes behind the winner.
Quote of the day
We came to try and win some stages and we've already won two, so I think early in the Vuelta we're proud of what we've acomplished so far.
Kristen Faulkner post-stage 4 of La Vuelta
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