'I’m very happy and exhausted' - Marianne Vos sprints to photo finish win on stage six of La Vuelta Femenina
Dutchwoman wins for second time in a week, narrowly beating Mischa Bredewold
Marianne Vos clinched stage six of La Vuelta Femenina by millimetres on Friday, beating Mischa Bredewold on the line after a photo finish.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was very active in the closing stages of the penultimate stage, but it all came down to the final 100 metres, with Vos throwing her bike to beat SD Worx-Protime's Bredewold on the line.
It was Vos' second victory of the week after she won stage two; as she finished second on stages three and four, too, the Dutchwoman is in control of the points competition.
Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) finished with the bunch to ensure her continued lead in the race overall, 45 seconds over Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime).
"I’m very happy and exhausted to be honest," Vos said post-stage on television. "We knew today was a chance for us and we wanted to go all in and we did. In the end it was really close so I was happy I could just take it.
"There were a lot of long, straight, open roads [today]. Not a lot of wind, but enough wind to make it hard, mostly headwind. It was not ideal for the breakaway, and then a big group went, but we had two riders in there. For us, it was a good situation. When that got closed, and the final opened we wanted to take control."
"It was a fast run-in with the downhill, all the teams were trying to prepare," she explained of the finish. "Already on the final climbs it was tough to stay in contention. I got brought in in a really good position, and then Imogen Wolff again did a really good job bringing me into a really good position. Mischa Bredewold opened her sprint, and the last 150m it was just us two-abreast. It was very close.
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"We’re very happy with today, and we’re going to celebrate a bit, and then get ready for the last stage. Hopefully we can finish it off with a nice day."
Saturday's stage finishes on the Alto de Cotobello, a 10.5km at 8%, which will decide the direction of the red jersey.
The penultimate stage of La Vuelta Femenina was forecast to end in a sprint, sandwiched between two extreme mountain stages.
Despite multiple attacks in the opening kilometres, the peloton still stubbornly remained together after 50km of racing.
With 80km of the day left, a giant group of 19 broke clear of the peloton, including former red jersey Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) and Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly). The closest to the top of the GC was Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal), at 6:42 behind the leader, Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).
The time gap never got too far beyond a minute, with Movistar, Liv AlUla Jayco and Visma-Lease a Bike among those powering on the front of the peloton.
With 46km to go, the break was caught, which led to an almost immediate counter attack by three riders - Lea Lin Teutenberg (Lotto), Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Sarah Roy (EF Education-Oatly). The trio built up a lead of over a minute, but the interest in a bunch sprint finish was too high for the break to survive.
Liane Lippert (Movistar) clipped off the front with 14km to go, quickly eating up the space in between the peloton and the leaders to end their hopes. Lippert hoped to escape alone, but kicked off some GC action, as she was followed not only by Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) but Vollering, Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and then Marlen Reusser (Movistar).
Once this was closed down, Lippert was joined by Vos and Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) out front for the latest escape attempt, which lasted for about 3km on the plateau before the final small climb before the finish.
Lidl-Trek and FDJ-Suez were ever-present at the front of the bunch as less than 7km remained of the day, before the final rise. Things stuck together for most of the ascent, before Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) attempted to go clear on the descent, but she was quickly chased by the bunch led by Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).
With the peloton altogether into the last kilometre, all eyes were on a sprint. Imogen Wolff (Visma-Lease a Bike) led around the final corner, working for Vos, who sprinted to the line against Bredewold. Vos attempted to come round in the final 50 metres, and succeeded, but only just, beating her compatriot in a photo finish.
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:00:09
2. Mischa Bredewold (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
3. Ally Wollaston (NZl) FDJ-Suez
4. Lara Gillespie (Ire) UAE Team ADQ
5. Nicole Steigenga (Ned) AG Insurance-Soudal
6. Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
7. Cat Ferguson (GBr) Movistar
8. Megan Jastrab (USA) Picnic PostNL
9. Usoa Ostolaza (Spa) Labora Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi
10. Imogen Wolff (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) FDJ-Suez, in 15:18:08
2. Anna van der Breggen (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +45s
3. Marlen Reusser (Sui) Movistar, +46s
4. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra) EF Educartion-Oatly, +1:49
5. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Lidl-Trek, +2:05
6. Juliette Labous (Fra) FDJ-Suez, +2:09
7. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) Lidl-Trek, +2:19
8. Usoa Ostolaza (Spa) Laboral Kutxa, +2:26
9. Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco, +2:35
10. Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +2:57