Despite a crash by Ellen van Dijk and Elynor Backstedt in the final corner, Lidl-Trek still managed to win the first stage of La Vuelta España Femenina by milliseconds over Visma-Lease a Bike and one second over SD Worx-Protime. General classification hopefuls Gaia Realini and Elisa Longo Borghini finished safely with other members of the team, while Van Dijk was helped off the course.
Realini leads the general classification ahead of teammates Lizzie Deignan and Brodie Chapman, but the top ten are all on the same time due to the close finish between Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike. During stage 2, bonus seconds could see the jersey change hands.
- EF Education-Cannondale set the fastest time early in proceedings, even over several WorldTour teams (Roland, Human Powered Health, AG Insurance-Soudal, Liv AlUla Jayco, Fenix-Deceuninck and FDJ-Suez).
- The first team to best EF Education-Cannondale’s time was last year’s stage 1 TTT winners, Visma-Lease a Bike, who put 19 seconds into the American squad.
- Lidl-Trek were set to clock the fastest time by a good margin when a crash on the final corner took out two of their riders – Ellen van Dijk and Elynor Backstedt. The American team still managed to take the lead by milliseconds, with Realini and Longo Borghini safely finishing with their team and without any time lost – meanwhile, Backstedt was able to finish the stage on a spare bike, but Van Dijk picked up a deep wound to her chin and ended the day in the hospital to check for fractures. The European ITT champion may still appear at the start of stage 2. According to UCI rules “in case of a duly noted fall, puncture, or mechanical incident beyond the red triangle in a team time trial stage, the rider or riders involved shall be credited with the time of the teammates in whose company he was/they were riding at the moment of the incident” (2.6.028). Of course, Van Dijk’s participation will depend on her health.
- SD Worx-Protime were looking good but lost out on the first two steps in the finale.
Stage top 10
Top 10 GC
Quick analysis
- On the eve of the first stage, one of the top favourites Ashleigh Moolman Pasio posted to Instagram that she would not be racing this year’s Vuelta due to illness. It is a blow to the GC competition as Moolman Pasio is one of the top climbers in the peloton and would have made the final stages all the more interesting.
“Unfortunately, illness struck on the morning of Liege, yet I honoured the team’s decision to race. As the infection has worsened over the course of this week, I had to make the tough call to focus on my well-being and take the time to fully recover. This setback will only fuel me to come back even stronger for what lies ahead,” Moolman Pasio explained. “The world of pro sports can be tough sometimes. You work hard, make sacrifices, but things don’t always go as planned. Through the years, I’ve learned not to dwell on what might have been. It’s important to acknowledge the disappointment, deal with it, and move on. It’s not easy, but with the amazing support I have around me, I know I’ll bounce back and be better than before.
“Right now, my main goal is to recover fully.”
- Neve Bradbury was another non-starter, forced to withdraw just hours before the stage start due to illness. She’s a big loss for Canyon-SRAM, which continues the Vuelta with five riders – though her absence makes their fourth place finish look all the more impressive.
- Watching Visma-Lease a Bike’s overhead showed Riejanne Markus carrying the team with the longest pulls on the front. Markus is targeting the general classification of La Vuelta for the second year in a row having finished fourth overall last year, three and a half minutes down on the overall winner Annemiek van Vleuten.
- As for SD Worx-Protime’s strategy, Niamh Fisher-Black could be seen sitting on from the beginning, merely tasked with finishing with the team and not spending unnecessary energy.
- Towards the end of the race, Gaia Realini was also sitting on the back of Lidl-Trek, conserving her energy for the days to come.
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