Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) was among the favourites for the opening stage of the Vuelta España Femenina and its uphill finish, but the Dutchwoman had to settle for seventh place.
Although she was unable to trouble the frontrunners, the fact that she was there in the mix at all was remarkable after she had to fight back from a late crash.
Vos was a faller in one of the numerous crashes that occurred on a slippery descent just inside 10km from the finish in Salvaterra de Miño.
"I landed in the ditch," she told Eurosport of the incident, which was not captured by the television cameras.
When images of Vos were picked up by the cameras, she was chasing furiously with her teammates. Just inside the 5km-to-go mark, she was still making her way through the cars of the race convoy, some 23 seconds behind the front of the race.
She just about made it back in time for the final kilometre and the start of the leg-sapping haul to the line, where she found herself alongside teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. However, the chase had perhaps taken its toll, and as the sprint opened just inside 200m to go, Vos hit out and found space on the right but couldn't make inroads as Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) charged clear for victory.
"In that moment of course you have to see what is happening, but it was good that Pauline was in the first split, then the rest of the team was trying to get me back to the first group, so I’m thankful for their help," Vos said.
As for the physical effects of the crash, with adrenaline no doubt taking over for a while, she said she was "pretty much ok" but added: "We’ll have to see how it will be."
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