Demi Vollering secured her first victory of the season carrying the colors of her new staff FDJ-SUEZ on the opening stage of the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana.
The Dutch rider attacked simply forward of the ultimate climb, Alto de Barx, with 18km to go and held off a chasing Marlen Reusser (Movistar) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), each her former teammates, to say the stage win and the chief’s jersey in Gandia.
Vollering completed 30 seconds forward of runner-up Reusser and third-placed Van der Breggen, and can head into stage 2 carrying the general chief’s jersey.
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) received the bunch dash for fourth place, because the peloton crossed the end line 1:30 behind.
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How it unfolded
The peloton tackled 112km from Alzira to Gandia on the opening stage at Setmana Calenciana. The occasion additionally marked the official return of former World and Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen, who introduced a shock comeback with SD Worx-Protime after a three-year retirement from professional racing.
It was a lumpy route with three categorised climbs; Alto de Serra Grossa (2km at 5%), Alto de Barxeta (1.9km at 5.2%) and Alto de Barx (4.6km at 5.7%), which peaked at simply 17km from the end line in Gandia.
Marina Garau (BePink-Imatra-Bongioanni) launched into a solo breakaway throughout the early kilometres of the stage, pushing her lead out to over a minute. While Mariana Líbano (Eneicat-CMTeam) tried to bridge throughout, the Portuguese rider wasn’t capable of join with Garau, and she or he was reeled again into the sector with 80km to go.
Garau continued out entrance alone towards the primary climb of the day and managed to carry off the chase as she crested the Alto de Serra Grossa, taking high mountain factors earlier than she was caught on the descent.
Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) received the intermediate dash for factors and three seconds time bonus in Barxeta earlier than FDJ-SUEZ, AG Insurance-Soudal and Movistar led the peloton into the foot of the Alto de Barxeta.
Vollering launched an assault simply a few kilometres earlier than reaching the ultimate climb of the day; Alto de Barx. Van der Breggen and Marlen Reusser had been fast to comply with however not capable of absolutely join with their former teammate.
The 2023 Tour de France winner pushed the tempo on the higher slopes of Barx, growing her result in 45 seconds on chasers Van der Breggen and Reusser on the descent. The essential discipline barreled into the ultimate kiloemtres lower than a minute behind.
Vollering soared into the ultimate kilometre poised to safe her first stage win of the season together with her new staff, and the general race lead, whereas Reusser and Van der Breggen had been pressured to accept the minor locations on the rostrum.
Results
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