Two of the top GC contenders for La Vuelta Femenina, Gaia Realini and Kasia Niewiadoma, have pulled out ahead of the sixth stage due to injuries sustained in a crash and lingering illness respectively.
Going into the Vuelta Femenina, Realini (Lidl-Trek) was one of her team’s co-leaders alongside Elisa Longo Borghini, having won a stage and finished third overall in 2023.
The minuscule climber was being protected in the opening TTT by Lizzie Deignan and crossed the line first as Lidl-Trek won the stage, taking the red leader’s jersey for a day. But on stage 4, Realini lost two minutes in the echelons, and a crash on stage 5 now means that she has to abandon the race.
Niewiadoma struggled on the final climb on stage 5 and after falling ill after her great Ardennes Classics campaign and not fully returning to 100% health, Canyon-SRAM decided it was best for her not to continue.
"Kasia Niewiadoma won’t start stage six of La Vuelta Femenina, today. After battling with a small sickness since the Ardennes Classics, our medical team decided it’s best for Kasia to stop the race early and allow a full recovery," read a social media post from the team.
Realini crashed on stage 5 during the high-speed descent of the Alto del Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña with 28km to go. Her teammate Brodie Chapman came back to assist the 22-year-old Italian who started walking towards her bike before leaning on the roadside cliff again and sitting down again for a short time.
With the race doctor’s car and the team car now having stopped at the site, Realini got her spare bike and continued the race. Judging by the TV footage, no concussion check was performed in the roughly 40 seconds between Realini getting up and being back on her bike.
Piloted down the rest of the descent by Chapman before tackling the finishing climb, Realini finished 7:03 minutes behind stage winner and new red jersey Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and was checked by the team doctor right after the stage finish.
On the morning of stage 6, Lidl-Trek announced that Realini would be going to the hospital instead of starting the stage, having sustained a minor concussion and suffered from pain in her chest and right elbow.
Realini's exit from the race leaves Lidl-Trek with just five of their original seven-woman squad after Ellen van Dijk also had to abandon due to injuries suffered in the stage 1 TTT crash.
Longo Borghini now leads the American squad's GC ambitions and sits 28 seconds down on Vollering going into the final three stages.
#LaVueltaFemenina Unfortunately @GaiaRealini will not start Stage 6 after her crash yesterday. Gaia is suffering from pain in her chest and right elbow, as well as a minor concussion. She will go to hospital this morning, accompanied by the team doctor for further checks. pic.twitter.com/n8zZpmthSOMay 3, 2024
