When Lotta Henttala (EF Education-Cannondale) crossed the end line of stage 1 of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas, having simply handed late attacker Carina Schrempf (Fenix-Deceuninck), she raised her left arm and began celebrating wildly. It then wasn’t lengthy until she was swarmed by hugging teammates and crying tears of pleasure – this was her first victory in over 5 years.
“We went to the day with ‘let’s see how I really feel’, and if I really feel okay, we are able to attempt to dash as a result of it’s been fairly an extended journey to return again. I had a child a couple of years in the past, after which I had lengthy COVID however I’ve began to really feel higher month by month,” Henttala mentioned within the race organisation’s post-race interview, filmed by ProCycling Women.
Henttala now has 26 profession wins to her title, however earlier than Thursday’s win the final was on the primary stage of the Healthy Ageing Tour in April of 2019, nonetheless underneath her maiden title of Lepistö because it was forward of her marriage to fellow Finnish professional bike owner Joonas Henttala in October of that yr.
Then the 2020 season was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Henttala was making ready for the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, however she felt sick and deserted the 2021 Vuelta a Burgos Féminas, later discovering out she was pregnant. Her and Joonas’ son Olavi was born in January of 2022, however Henttala realised that she wasn’t executed with professional biking but.
She signed with AG Insurance-Soudal for 2023 and began her comeback with a bang in February, taking two runner-up spots within the Setmana Valenciana with Olavi in attendance because the race wasn’t removed from the Henttala’s residence in Girona.
However, a month later, Henttala contracted COVID and needed to sit out many of the spring classics, and the after results of the sickness influenced the remainder of her season. Nevertheless, she was introduced as one of many key signings for the new-look EF Education-Cannondale crew for 2024.
Three years on from discovering out about her being pregnant, Henttala accomplished her comeback with the dash victory in a chaotic stage ending in Burgos. There was a crash near the end involving Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) however that was to the left of Henttala so she was unhindered.
“I had fairly a great coaching block the final two months and I may really feel it on the climbs that I may spin my legs a bit of bit,” mentioned Henttala in a crew assertion. “I used to be not on the restrict on a regular basis so I believed, ‘okay, perhaps I’ve one thing left for the dash’ and I went full gasoline for it.”