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The opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas didn’t look like it would provide any GC action before the punchy uphill sprint finish – but a fast descent starting 44km out led to an unexpected breakaway and a high-speed chase on the roads to Poza de la Sal.
Elisa Longo Borghini and her UAE Team ADQ teammate Paula Blasi were two of the eleven riders in the breakaway, with Longo Borghini telling Cyclingnews how the group formed along the unsuspecting flatter final section of the 125km race.
“SD Worx-Protime was chasing the breakaway, and then they started hammering down the downhill. Before the stage, I didn’t really expect to have such a broken peloton at the end of the downhill, but during the downhill, I immediately understood that there was a clear intention to break the peloton into pieces,” said the Italian Champion.
In addition to Longo Borghini and Blasi, there were Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes, and Barbara Guarischi from SD Worx-Protime and six riders from six different teams: Célia Gery (FDJ-Suez), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Aude Biannic (Movistar), Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Deceuninck), Franziska Koch (Picnic PostNL), and Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Health). Mirre Knaven (EF Education-Oatly) had also been part of the move at first but quickly decided to drop back to the chasing peloton.
Unlike Kopecky, Longo Borghini, Niedermaier, or Wiebes, GC hopefuls like Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and sprinters like Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) had missed the move, and a high-speed chase ensued.
“Unfortunately, only four of us, Kopecky, Wiebes, Paula, and me, were contributing to keep the break alive, and behind there was Movistar and Lidl-Trek really hammering it to get back,” said Longo Borghini.
Blasi was one of four riders who could not keep up with the pace over the Alto de La Varga. Instead, ten riders bridged to the front just before the top of the climb, but there was no more cooperation, and the group was reeled in after the descent.
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After that, Gery and Steffi Häberlin (SD Worx-Protime) went on a more typical breakaway that was caught on the penultimate kilometre, just in time for the uphill sprint won by Wiebes, in part, thanks to rival Longo Borghini, who she said launched an early bid on the uphill finale.
“In the last few hundred metres, with Lotte Kopecky and I, we had two good cards to play. We knew the last 300 metres were the toughest. It was tough all the way to the finish,” Wiebes said.
“Before the last corner, I thought I was locked in, but thanks to a move by Elisa Longo Borghini, space opened up. I followed her on the outside bend and then came alongside Elisa Balsamo. When I saw Balsamo get over Lotte, I also set up my sprint & it worked out well for the win.”