Saturday's stage of La Vuelta Femenina raised controversy as overall leader Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) lost her red classification jersey to Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team). It began only 36km into the 106-kilometre stage because of a combination of a nature break and a crosswind situation.
Van Vleuten and Movistar said that they had planned to put the race in the gutter from the get-go of stage 6. Vollering and SD Worx countered that it was more of a headwind than a crosswind, adding that the race jury enforced a barrage when riders were dropped from the peloton because of the increased speed.
“At 70 kilometres from the finish, me and some other riders on my team had to pee. Femke Markus also just had a puncture. It was just before a town. Nothing seemed to be happening. At that moment the peloton was riding at a slow pace,” Vollering recounted after the stage had finished about the decisive moment in the race.
It was in this area that Movistar sport director Sebastián Unzué said the team's strategy had been to make an acceleration, noting "we had a very clear plan this morning. We knew it was an unprotected area with a big bridge and with strong crosswind." Van Vleuten confirmed this at the finish.
“It was a super good moment, super good timing also, on the bridge, only it was unfortunate for some girls that stopped to pee. But we already made the plan, and for them it’s not the best moment if they see we go on the right-hand side and wind is coming up. It’s also part of the race that you need to stop in a good moment and not with crosswinds coming up,” added Van Vleuten.
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With tears in her eyes during the post-race interviews, Vollering said she had trouble believing Van Vleuten’s assertions that they had planned the acceleration well in advance. “I would say the same if I were her. But it is all quite much of a coincidence. They did everything they could to ride me out of the red jersey. This is top sport. I don’t expect any gifts, but if you want to do it this way... a shame."
There is an unwritten rule in cycling that you don’t attack a GC rival after a crash or when they go on a nature break, and this is especially true for the overall leader. However, if a team planned a move at a particular point in the race, the understanding is that they should not have to cancel their plans because a GC leader opts for a nature break at the same time.
In the end. Van Vleuten made the two-rider breakaway and finished second to Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo), with Vollering taking fifth in the chase group behind. Van Vleuten starts the final stage with a lead of 1:11 over Vollering in the GC, the tough climb to Lagos de Covadonga looming for the finish.
Unzué explained the team’s strategy for the penultimate day, which included assessment of the winds on stage 6.
"We had Jurgen Roelandts in front of the race informing us of the wind conditions where we wanted to make the acceleration. We know these roads perfectly because we live close to the area, we’ve been racing here all our lives and knew that some GC riders wouldn’t expect it.
“They made a huge mistake stopping in the worst possible moment for a pee. We made the same mistake yesterday with Liane [Lippert] stopping for a pee just before a climb and she was caught up behind. We had to chase all day. But we accepted our mistake and didn’t complain about other teams accelerating when she was peeing. It’s racing,” Unzué finished.
Team SD Worx sport director Anna van der Breggen added another piece to the puzzle, describing how the race jury enforced a barrage behind a group of dropped riders – one day after the team’s second GC card Niamh Fisher-Black fell out of overall contention when she was caught behind a similar barrage after a crash.
“Right after our riders pulled over for a pee break with a few more riders from other teams, Movistar, Jumbo-Visma and Trek-Segafredo went all-out. The wind was not even really a crosswind, it was more of a headwind at that point. Because the difference in level in the Vuelta Femenina is quite big, a small group was dropped.
"The jury immediately decided to make another barrage, and the cars had to get out of the way. That makes it difficult to get back after a pee break,” said Van der Breggen.
Wind data for the area in question, northwest of Laredo and west of Santoña, show the wind blowing from the north-northwest. There are two bridges crossing the marshy wetlands of the Ría de Argoños: the first where the direction of the race was northeast, but the road turns east on a small island afterwards and continues in that direction into the town of Santoña. On the first bridge, the peloton faced a cross-headwind, then on the second it was a cross-tailwind.
"I’m really bummed," Vollering said at the finish. "It is a big shame because my legs felt really good. Hopefully that will still be the case tomorrow. I am hungry for revenge and hope to put things right tomorrow.”
