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Although stage 2 was the ‘easiest’ of the Itzulia Women, it still saw plenty of action, and a three-rider breakaway animated the flattish final of the stage. Mareille Meijering (Movistar), Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), and Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike) almost made to the finish but were caught only 200 metres from the line.
Smulders was the first of the three to go on the move, bridging to the earlier breakaway and attacking again when that group was brought back.
“We thought it would be an aggressive final. In the moment that breakaway got caught, I saw there was a bit of hesitation and still a bit of some gap, and then I just felt like, ‘ah, I go’, it was just on feeling and instinct, and I thought that it was a good moment,” she recounted the situation 14km from the finish line.
Smulders had not been able to follow the best on the hardest climb of the day, Lamindao, early on the stage but made it back to the peloton later and started feeling better and better as the stage went on. After her attack, she was quickly joined by Meijering and Reijnhout, forming a trio at the front of the race, about 20 seconds ahead of the chasing peloton.
“We worked quite well, especially Mareille was also very strong. If only SD Worx was chasing, it could be a really big chance. We rode full, and I really felt that we were going to make it. Then Mareille started really early, and I thought, ‘okay, I go over the top of her, and maybe I win’, but then we got caught just in front of the line. They came with really high speed in the end,” Smulders said.
The 24-year-old knows the feeling of being caught on the finishing straight well – the same happened to her on the final stage of the 2024 Simac Ladies Tour where she even held on for a fourth place. Despite that, Smulders focused on the positives, seeing it as another step on her way back after a back injury.
“It was a bummer that it was so close, but I am really happy with how I raced. I raced with my instincts and with my feeling, that’s something that is sometimes hard to do, and I’m happy that I did it. It’s good to get some confidence in like this, this is the way I want to race and show myself, so I’m really happy with the race in the end. No regrets,” finished Smulders.
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