Imogen Wolf (Visma-Lease a Bike), 18, took the first professional victory of her career at stage 3 of the Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina, beating Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) and Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) in a wet sprint finish in Hervás.
After building a big enough lead in the stage 1a time trial, Van Dijk's third-place finish meant she held onto the overall lead and claimed the GC victory in Spain ahead of Ottestad, who started the final day of racing six seconds behind the Dutch veteran.
Ottestad finished second overall, capping off a great three days of racing after already netting a stage win on Friday. Greta Marturano (UAE Team ADQ) took third on GC thanks to the time she gained by winning stage 1b.
The stage was due to be one for the climbers, with two category 1 climbs along the route, however, awful wet weather in the Extremadura region in Western Spain meant the stage was shortened to just 69km with both of the climbs removed.
This allowed the likes of Van Dijk to contest the overall, and with any would-be attackers kept in control by her teammates, she was able to take the first GC win since returning from giving birth to her first child in 2023.
"It wasn't the easiest to control because there were lots of girls who could still win the race and I didn't have a big advantage so we had to be super sharp. The girls were going full gas and were so impressive," said Van Dijk.
"In the intermediate sprint, we lost two seconds so it made it even tighter. On the last climb, the girls did a full lead-out for me and I knew I had to finish it off.
"I'm super happy I could win this GC, especially to pay back all the hard work done by the girls. It was a great week here with a great atmosphere among the team. My focus was to win the time trial on stage 1a so to win the overall is such a nice bonus. A great start to the season so I'm very happy!"
Results powered by FirstCycling
