Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas, beating Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) in a sprint of two riders after an exciting final around Medina de Pomar. Bredewold's teammate Lorena Wiebes completed the podium for what is the 400th victory of the team's history.
Benito had attacked 27km from the finish and quickly got a gap of 1:24 At the top of the Alto de Bocos with 14km to go, Benito was still 40 seconds up on a select group that had formed on the climb.
Bredewold attacked from that group, taking Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) and Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) with her on the chase and steadily getting closer to Benito. When the gap was down to 12 seconds, Bredewold attacked again to chase down Benito on her own, reaching the Spaniard with six kilometres to go.
Benito continued to take turns with Bredewold to keep the other chasers behind, but Bredewold easily won the sprint. Having caught Spratt and Smulders on the finishing straight, Wiebes clinched the sprint of a chase group of 14 riders for third place.
“It was a perfect day. Before the race, I aimed for this stage, and the whole team supported me. Lorena was really supportive to give me the opportunity, even in the sprint. I felt so much confidence that I could do it, I could make the right decisions and the right attacks. I’m really happy with this one,” said Bredewold.
Finishing 11 seconds behind Bredewold, Wiebes kept the overall lead due to the four-second bonification for third place.
“It’s a give and take. Lorena really is a team player, and the whole team goes with that energy. The support is just amazing, and having Lorena [in the group] behind is a really big advantage, of course. I’m very grateful to the whole team, the staff and the girls,” Bredewold concluded.
How it unfolded
The 126km stage from Busto de Bureba to Medina de Pomar featured three classified climbs, including two ascents of the Alto de Bocos in the final. It took over 40km for the break of the day to get established, but eventually Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Kaja Rysz (Hitec Products-Fluid Control), Constance Valentin (Mayenne-Monbana-My Pie), Fariba Hashimi (Vini Fantini-BePink), Sharon Spimi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), and Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal) formed a front group of six.
Their advantage went up and down between 30 seconds and 1:30 minutes, and Hashimi made two attempts to go solo from the group but was brought back each time. Hashimi then set the pace the first time up the Alto de Bocos, quickly dropping Valentin, Rysz, and González before paying the prize for her effort and losing contact with Spimi and Steigenga halfway up the climb.
Although Hashimi returned to the two leaders, a reduced peloton was close behind and caught the breakaway just before the top of the climb, with Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco) winning the mountain sprint.
After a fast descent that saw some splits in the peloton, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka tried to get away but was closed down by Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Bredewold. Benito launched a counter-attack, and the Spanish time trial champion quickly gained time as nobody seemed interested in keeping her under control.
25km from the finish, Oda Aune Gissinger (Hitec Products-Fluid Control) attacked, and Claire Steels (Movistar) bridged to the young Norwegian mountains leader. In the peloton, UAE Team ADQ now took up the chase until Dominika Włodarczyk and Megan Jastrab crashed, then Lidl-Trek took over.
Gissinger and Steels never had more than 20 seconds in hand on the peloton and were caught at the bottom of the Alto de Bocos. Andersson attacked but could not get a gap.
Instead, a counter-attack by Bredewold disintegrated the peloton, and a group of 11 riders managed to go clear.
Apart from Bredewold, the move included Évita Muzic (FDJ United-Suez), Shirin van Anrooij, Amanda Spratt (both Lidl-Trek), Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Kerbaol, Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Maud Oudeman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Andersson, and Smulders.
As Kerbaol started to set the pace, Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech), Wiebes, Amber Kraak (FDJ United-Suez), and Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) bridged across to the group just before Bredewold upped the pace halfway up the climb. Oudeman and Kraak took over from her, then Andersson attacked for the mountain points, cresting the climb 40 seconds behind Benito.
Bredewold attacked on the descent, taking Smulders and Spratt with her on the chase, and then launched another attack to bridge to Benito alone before outsprinting the Spaniard to win the stage.
Results
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