Crashes due to wet roads impacted a potential bunch sprint into Moncófar on stage 2 of la Vuelta Femenina, but EF Education-Cannondale kept their cool with Alison Jackson sprinting to take the stage ahead of Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ).
With the bonus seconds both at the finish and intermediate sprints, Vas moved into the race lead, eight seconds ahead of Jackson, with Lidl-Trek’s Elisa Longo Borghini third overall, nine seconds back.
- After an aggressive start to the day, a breakaway of six established themselves ahead of the peloton, but they would eventually be caught before the first categorized climb of La Vuelta Puerto de l’Oronet. On the 4.9 km climb, Visma-Lease a Bike lined up at the front and set a pace that split the peloton and dropped DSM Firmenich-PostNL sprinter Charlotte Kool.
- Over the top of the climb, Lidl-Trek kept the pressure on and splits continued to form in the peloton. Once on the flatter roads, Anneke Dijkstra of VolkerWessels went for a solo move. The Dutchwoman was able to get nearly a minute and take maximum bonus seconds, but once the chasing group looked like they were coming back the peloton containing Vos upped their effort and caught Dijkstra.
- The group containing Kool got within 19 seconds of catching the peloton when crashes started to plague the race. First, it was SD Worx’s Mischa Bredewold, Lidl’s Lizzie Diegnan, and Anna Henderson (Visma) who went down, and then another crash allowed Jelena Erić to get away. Deignan and Bredewold remounted and were credited at the same time as Jackson, but Henderson would DNF on the day. Niamh Fisher-Black and Liane Lippert both hit the ground, but they were within 3 km of the finish and would receive the same time as the main peloton.
- Erić, the Serbian national champion, was caught with 1 km to go and EF Education-Cannondale led the peloton into the sprint with Kristen Faulkner leading the race for Jackson. Once Jackson opened her sprint Swinkels couldn’t come around, and by the line, Vas was able to pass the Dutch rider to take second.
Stage Top 10
GC Top 10
Quick analysis
- The morning of the stage Lidl-Trek announced that Ellen van Dijk would start on Monday, with some stitches in her chin and no signs of a concussion.
- Even though it was Dijkstra who took maximum intermediate bonus seconds, Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) took an extra four seconds and moved into the virtual lead of the race before the finish. Once the crashes impacted the finale the Hungarian national champion was able to take another four seconds and jump 15 spots into red, by eight seconds.
- A number of riders sit nine seconds back in the general classification, including red jersey wearer Gaia Realini and last year’s runner-up Vollering, who finished safely within the bunch on the same time as Jackson.
- Swinkels moved into the lead of the Mountains Classification after taking full points on the Category 3 climb.
Quote of the day
We’re just so jazzed to be here. Win the race, that’s all we want to do.
Alison Jackson after La Vuelta stage 2
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