7th Vuelta a Burgos Feminas (May 19th-21st)

[Samu Cuenca]

It's been a year since the last real mountain showdown between the two Vans. One of them might be present again this year, but none of them will be racing, so a new winner will be crowned on Sunday
Demi Vollering, who finished third 12 months ago, crashed out of Emakumeen Saria, but she is apparently feeling alright and should be ready for the start.


Podiums of the first six editions (NE 2015-18, 2.1 in 2019, WWT from 2021)

2021	Anna van der Breggen	Annemiek van Vleuten	Demi Vollering
2019	Stine Borgli	Soraya Paladin	Mavi Garcia
2018	Beautriu Gomez Franquet	Henrietta Colborne	Enara Lopez Gallastegi
2017	Eider Merino	Femke Verstichelen	Roos Hoogeboom
2016	Mavi Garcia	Anna Kiesenhofer	Eider Merino
2015	Belen Lopez Morales	Gloria Rodriguez	Yulia Ilinykh

Stage 1

A bit of up and down all day before a slight uphill finish in Aranda de Duero (3-4% in the last 500m)

Last 3 km:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbb_deGNxkI


Stage 2

Quite similar to the first stage, but there's a short climb in the final 5.5 km (0.8 km, 6%) before a descent and a flat finish.

Last 3 km:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDT34EkwY28

Stage 3

The third stage has the same start and finish points as last year when Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took her first WWT win, but it seems the run-in to the final climb is a little bit easier this time.

Last 3 km:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHGjkDX5f14

Stage 4

Lagunas de Neila made its debut in the women's race last year and will once again decide the final outcome. This time they have added a loop of 11 kilometres between the penultimate climb and the start of Lagunas de Neila.

Last 3 km:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDmSnXw3dDQ


Start list: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=10428&y=2022&k=8

 

[yaco]

It's an underwhelming route for this year's edition - Lets see how the race unfolds.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The break of the day has been caught. Som echelon action instigated by Trek now.
Rooijakkers, Ewers and Baril are in the second group.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Rooijakkers attacked on her own, and Amialiusik dropped back to help her. The pace went up again right when they rejoined and the rest of the second group didn't make it back. 14 km left.

 

[RedheadDane]

Kopecky wins the sprint.

@Red Rick! Get to work.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Easy win for Kopecky. Norsgaard couldn't hold her wheel and lost second place to Tereza Neumanová, who was the surprise of the day.

 

[RedheadDane]

Easy win for Kopecky. Norsgaard couldn't hold her wheel and lost second place to Tereza Neumanova, who was the surprise of the day.

If I'm not mistaken, she's a new star.

 

[yaco]

The next two stages have similar profiles, so it could be good news for Kopecky.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Rooijakkers attacked on her own, and Amialiusik dropped back to help her. The pace went up again right when they rejoined and the rest of the second group didn't make it back. 14 km left.

God bless Pauliena, she's fantastic but her acute pelotonophobia will always cost her like this, she's had to expend a bunch of energy that other contenders haven't à la Valverde in Suances in 2008. This was always going to be a stage about survival for her.

I've always compared her to David Moncoutié as a rider. She's a great climber who frequently struggles on the flat and has no sprint ability and can be nervous in the pack, and who can usually be found in only two places: at the back of the péloton, and off the front of it.

 

[Dk one]

Trek wtf? Dideriksen working on the front for Hosking and maybe Lucinda B, and they are both dropped. Amalie hasn’t had a lot of chances to ride for herself the last couple of years, and when she finally does, it is after using a lot energy at the front.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Trek wtf? Dideriksen working on the front for Hosking and maybe Lucinda B, and they are both dropped. Amalie hasn’t had a lot of chances to ride for herself the last couple of years, and when she finally does, it is after using a lot energy at the front.

Plus she got blocked a bit twice in the finale.

Cavalli has crashed out.

The breakaway with Jennifer Ducuara of Colombia Tierra de Atletas - GW - Shimano, who's on teh same time as Kopecky, had a big lead, but Canyon is now clsing it down rapidly. The gap is still more than 4 minutes with 30 km left, so it won't be impossible for them to hold on.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Still 3 minutes with 15 to go, so it still looks good for the break.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Thep ga is only 1:30 with 10 km to go. A bunch sprint looks likely now.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

45 seconds with 4 km left.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Movistar are working hard now, but the gap is still 30 seconds.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

20 seconds at the 1K banner.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

They held on by 6 seconds!
Photo finish.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Matilde Vitillo started a long sprint, and it looked like she lost out to Buijsman due to a bad bike throw, but she just hold on to the win.

Jennifer Ducuara is the new race leader.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Rooijakkers and Amialiusik haven't started today. That's quite a shame. Rooijakkers really looked like she could have been a strong opponent for Vollering tomorrow.

 

[RedheadDane]

Less than 20 Ks to go.

 

[RedheadDane]

7 Ks to go.
Garcia and Muzic has around 30 seconds to a strong chase group.

 

[RedheadDane]

Garcia wins the stage after dropping Muzic in the final K.
Muzic held on for second.
Labous won the group's sprint for third, ahead of Kopecky.

 

[Dk one]

Vollering looking absolutely cooked. Thank you sd worx for your honest communication after her crash, don’t mind my Amy Pieters trofee hunt
Surprised Kopecky missed the first split btw.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vollering looking absolutely cooked. Thank you sd worx for your honest communication after her crash, don’t mind my Amy Pieters trofee hunt
Surprised Kopecky missed the first split btw.

It's alright, a few of us gambled on Rooijakkers thinking, well, there's no descending and the péloton surely can't split so much she is out of it before the mountaintop finish...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Sadly I didn't get to watch the final due to a dishwasher issue, but this is definitely turning into an interesting race with no clear favourite.

I hope, for their sakes, that Fisher-Black and/or Shackley gets backed by the team tomorrow, but Vollering is obviously not that far behind if she suddenly has godlike legs again.