EF-Education Cannondale has been on cloud nine since the start of the Women’s Vuelta. Stronger than the favorites, the American Kristen Faulkner made the hole 6 km from the finish to present herself with a lead of 10 seconds on the line to offer a second success to her team.
Within a group of favorites including Demi Vollering and Juliette Labous, Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) completed the stage podium. First in the intermediate sprint, the Dutchwoman steals the red jersey from Blanka Vas (SD Worx-ProTime) by 5 seconds. A day definitely full of surprises.
However, the profile of a flat stage promised to the sprinters did not allow us to predict so many upheavals. But under the leadership of the SD Work-ProTime, a group of 19 runners broke away from the peloton after 20 km of racing, taking advantage of the wind to make a devastating edge move. A coup which allowed the main favorites to trap Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek), Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Évita Muzic (Groupama-FDJ), while Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) threw the sponge before departure due to his fall the day before.
At the front, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-ProTime) was accompanied by Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL) Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon/SRAM Racing), all favorites for the general. The sprinters also felt the right move like the previous stage winners (Marianne Vos and Alison Jackson) who did not let go of the young wearer of the red jersey, Blanka Vas (22 years old).
This 4th stage, the longest of the Women’s Vuelta (142.3 km), continued with a distance duel between the peloton and the leading group. But the fugitives managed to maintain a lead which oscillated between 1 minute and 1 minute 40 until the intermediate sprint 13 km from the finish line. Just 1 second behind the red jersey, Vos beat Vas to regain the red jersey. Relegated to more than 2 minutes, the trapped peloton arrived with a delay which could be prohibitive for the rest of the race before the first mountain stage.
On Thursday, stage 5 will feature the first summit finish of this edition with a 3.2 km climb at 8% to the summit of Alto del Fuerte Rapitan. A first opportunity to explain among the favorites.
