SD Worx-Protime have been the crew that initiated the echelons early on stage 4 of La Vuelta Femenina, and with good motive: The Dutch crew’s two GC riders Demi Vollering and Niamh Fisher-Black have been among the many seven GC contenders that made the entrance echelon, in the long run taking nearly two minutes on the remainder of the sphere. For the rest of the race, there’ll successfully be two GC races: One for the general victory and one for the underside of the highest ten.
Stage winner Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) made an enormous leap up the general standings because of the ten-second hole she had on the end and the identical variety of bonus seconds. The 31-year-old Alaska native is now third general, 9 seconds behind the brand new pink jersey Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) stays in fourth place, 18 seconds down on Vos, and saved her personal GC hopes intact, however her crew’s co-leader Gaia Realini was within the group that completed 2:01 minutes behind Faulkner, dropping down the standings to 18th place at 2:11 minutes. This might give Realini some freedom within the hunt for stage victories, however her hopes of ending on the GC podium are, for all intents and functions, over.
Vos’ teammate Riejanne Markus additionally saved her sixth place general at 20 seconds, adopted by Vollering and Fisher-Black, all at 21 seconds. SD Worx-Protime now’s the one crew with two riders nonetheless in competition for the general victory, giving them an edge in opposition to their rivals.
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) saved the identical time relative to Vollering, Fisher-Black, and Markus, however moved up into the highest 10, 28 seconds behind Vos. However, her two teammates Ricarda Bauernfeind and Antonia Niedermaier misplaced time within the echelons. On the one hand, this offers Niewiadoma undisputed management, however however, it deprives the crew of two sturdy playing cards to play on the climbs to come back.
Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) additionally stayed in the identical place, now 37 seconds behind Vos. Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) made a large leap to fifteenth general, 1:20 minutes down. The Italian climber had misplaced contact together with her crew on the final metres of the opening TTT and misplaced an extra 4 seconds there, however her positioning within the echelons put her forward of many GC rivals and in a superb place to repeat and even enhance upon her eighth place general from final 12 months.
Movistar Team had Sheyla Gutiérrez taking fifth place on the stage, however their GC playing cards Olivia Baril and Liane Lippert missed out on the entrance echelon. Baril is now 2:19 minutes behind, with Lippert 4 seconds additional again.
Évita Muzic, the GC contender for FDJ-SUEZ, is now 2:20 minutes down on the pink jersey. Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) additionally misplaced useful time in her residence Grand Tour; the Spanish champion is one second behind Muzic.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) is now 2:43 minutes behind whereas Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) sits at 2:59 minutes. Kim Cadzow and Clara Koppenburg (each EF Education-Cannondale) additionally misplaced time and could also be requested to help Faulkner, however their time loss additionally provides them a sure freedom if the crew desires to proceed searching stage victories.
