Saturday May 4, 2024 at 4:23 PM
Marianne Vos has taken her second stage victory in La Vuelta Femenina 2024. The Visma rider | After a new fan stage, Lease a Bike turned out to be by far the strongest on the short but tough final climb to the castle of Sigüenza. Demi Vollering crossed the line in fourth place and will start the final stage tomorrow in red.
The remaining participants are already looking forward with fear and trembling to Sunday’s short but at the same time very tough final stage towards the climb to Valdesquí, but first there was a real transition stage. A transition stage with a lot of sting in the tail. Refugees smelled their chance in the 138.6 kilometer long stage to Sigüenza, but the classification women also had to be on their guard. The finish line was drawn on a tough climb of 600 meters, at an average of 8.1%.
Anna Kiesenhofer was part of the flight – photo: Cor Vos
Flaming start, Schoens on the attack
In a particularly fast opening phase, there was a rapid attack, and a leading group of eight riders briefly rode ahead, but the peloton did not want to just give its blessing. After twenty kilometers there was already a regrouping and new attacks had to be expected. This message was received by seven participants and so a new flight was created, this time with seven riders, including one Dutch rider: Quinty Schoens, competing for VolkerWessels.
The Limburg native was joined by Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer (Roland), Yuliia Biriukova (Human Powered Health), Veronica Ewers (EF Education-Cannondale), Angela Oro (Bepink-Bongioanni) and Stina Kangevi (Team Coop-Repsol). These seven attackers were given space by the peloton, although the women loved Visma | Lease a Bike will make up the difference within a minute. The Dutch formation did this for the favorite for the day’s victory, Marianne Vos.
Visma | Lease a Bike does the dirty work in the pursuit – photo: Cor Vos
The escapees were not immediately a danger with a view to the rankings. The best-placed rider in the leading group, Schoens, was already trailing by almost fifteen minutes after six stages. The seven leaders rode together for a long time, but with 65 kilometers to go the leading group completely split up. While Schoens, Tomasi, Biriukova, Ewers, Oro and Kangevi were about to be captured, Kiesenhofer certainly did not run out of steam.
Kiesenhofer goes solo, counter-attack by eight riders
The Austrian speed skater left her fellow escapees at the scene, ran off alone and embarked on a brave solo venture. Kiesenhofer was now being pursued by six riders, who were on the counterattack. Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck), Georgie Howe (Liv AlUla Jayco), Anya Louw (AG Insurance-Soudal Team), Laura Molenaar (VolkerWessels), Carolina Vargas (Eneicat-CMTeam) and Ana Vitória Magalhães (Bepink-Bongioanni) tried the to cross.
The peloton left things alone and the six counter-attackers were soon able to pull away for a minute. Fifty kilometers from the finish, this chasing group arrived at Kiesenhofer and did not stop there. From the background, two Italian riders – Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) and Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa) – also managed to make the jump. The leading group was thus expanded to no fewer than nine riders. They started the last hour of the race with a lead of more than a minute.
Demi Vollering, easily recognizable in the red leader’s jersey – photo: Cor Vos
Wind causes nervousness and fans
There wasn’t much to do in the following kilometers, but it turned out to be the calm before the storm. In the open Spanish plains towards the finish there was a treacherous tail/crosswind and this turned out to be enough for Riejanne Markus to take the lead and pull the peloton into fans. After a thorough selection, a first elite group remained of about thirty riders, including almost all the big names for the rankings. This significant acceleration in the peloton also brought an end to the escapees’ adventure.
Two main riders had missed the blowout, with Kim Cadzow (number eleven in the rankings) and Yara Kastelijn (ninth in the standings), who was Vollering’s main challenger in the last mountain stages. The latter ‘of course’ sat at the front, just like Elisa Longo Borghini, Markus, Juliette Labous and Marianne Vos. The differences turned out to be impossible to bridge in the last thirty kilometers, partly because the wind still had free play and there was no standstill at any time in the first fan.
Exciting finale
As a result, the front group continued to thin out, although a second group in the background continued to put pressure in the hope of joining up again. However, the calf turned out to have drowned and so the winner sat at the front. In the last ten kilometers there was no longer a good relationship, which made several riders decide to attack. For example, European champion Mischa Bredewold opted for the attack several times and Marlen Reusser also wanted to get away, but they had no room.
Longo Borghini and Labous at the head of the first fan – photo: Cor Vos
With four kilometers to go we saw another attack from Bredewold and this attack seemed to have a chance of success, but now everything came together again, just before the last and therefore decisive final climb of over 800 meters at an average of 8% . Kristen Faulkner quickly took the lead and managed to pull the group together with a very high basic pace. However, Vos was ideally placed, in the American’s wheel, and waited patiently for her moment. It came just a few hundred meters from the finish.
Veni, vidi, Fox!
With her characteristic explosive start, she drove away the opposition and was allowed to make the victory gesture for the second time in this Vuelta. A particularly strong Faulkner finished second, Elisa Longo Borghini came third. Demi Vollering crossed the line in fourth place just behind and thus retains the lead in the general classification. Tomorrow she will start the tough final stage to the Valdesquí ski station with a lead of just under a minute over Longo Borghini.
