Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) turned heads on stage 1 of the Itzulia Women when she rode the steep Etumeta climb from the front, completely splitting the peloton, until only three riders remained with her. In the end, the 23-year-old climber finished fifth on the day but gained valuable time for the general classification.
Although she is already looking ahead to her big goal, the Giro d’Italia Women starting in late May, Niedermaier hopes to get a GC result in the Basque stage race after laying the groundwork on stage 1.
“Today’s stage was really nice – a lot of long climbs, which I like. Unfortunately, the climb where I went solo was a little bit too early. But in general, it was a positive day. It is also nice to see that the way we are going is good, especially ahead of the Giro. The body is ready, the legs are ready,” she said after the stage.
After her attack, Niedermaier was caught on the descent and tackled the final climb in a group of five. She tried attacking again, but had no success.
“The last climb was not really perfect to attack; it wasn’t steep, and the wind was quite strong, so there was no chance to get away,” explained Niedermaier.
Instead, she focused on holding off the chase group that was getting closer and closer in the final. While other riders in the front group were targeting the stage, Niedermaier bit the bullet and pulled the group to the finishing straight in order to gain as much time as possible.
“The strategy in the final kilometres was just to keep a gap to the group that was coming next and create a gap for the GC. I was just riding and trying to keep a good pace, because the group was not really working – it was a little bit weird,” she said.
With stage 1 done and dusted and two stages still to come, Niedermaier sits fifth in GC, 15 seconds behind stage winner Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), but with a 16-second advantage on many of her competitors.
She has good memories from last year’s edition, where she was the last rider to lose contact with three-time Itzulia GC winner Demi Vollering, and with Vollering not in the race this year, Niedermaier hopes to attack and go all the way on Sunday.
“The general classification is for sure a big goal. Tomorrow is more like a classics-style race; there’s a lot of up and down, but it’s still a hard stage. Then, on the last day, the climb is the same as last year, when I was with Demi. So, I would try to go really hard on the last climb, and hopefully I can bring it to the finish then,” she promised.
