Lidl-Trek won the opening TTT of the Vuelta Femenina in Valencia, beating Team Visma-Lease a Bike by only nine hundredths of a second after having to regroup after a crash in the final kilometre. The team was fastest at the intermediate timing point and looked like the certain winner, but Ellen van Dijk crashed in the final corner, taking down Elynor Bäckstedt with her and disrupting the paceline.
With the seconds ticking down, Brodie Chapman and Elisa Longo Borghini waited for Gaia Realini and Lizzie Deignan to catch up, and Longo Borghini threw her bike on the finish line to take the victory. Realini crossed the line first and will be the first wearer of the red leader's jersey.
SD Worx-Protime were less than two seconds behind in third place.
"I am really happy about this result for me and for the team. I'm not completely happy because in the last corner, two of my teammates crashed, but in the end, we take this result and focus on the next stage," Realini said after the stage where she encouraged her teammates to give it their last on the final metres.
How it unfolded
Starting at the Museu de les Ciències in the centre of Valencia, the out-and-back TTT course took the teams south of the city with an intermediate time at the turning point after 8.2 kilometres. After 16km, teams finished outside the L'Oceanogràfic.
Team Coop-Repsol were the first of 21 teams off the start ramp, and their finishing time of 20:48 minutes stood until Lotto Dstny Ladies stopped the clock after 20:30 minutes. VolkerWessels had the same intermediate time as the Belgian team but gained time in the second half, setting a new best time of 20:21 minutes.
EF Education-Cannondale set a new benchmark with 19:29 minutes, taking 52 seconds off the best time. The US team stayed in the hot seat for 24 minutes – FDJ-SUEZ finished just 0.14 seconds slower, but Team Visma-Lease a Bike had set the best intermediate time, 13 seconds faster than EF-Education-Cannondale, and at the finish, the yellow-clad team was nine seconds faster.
Canyon-SRAM slotted into a provisional second place, eight seconds down on Visma-Lease a Bike, before everyone awaited the favourites of Lidl-Trek. They had passed the turning point with the fastest time by eight seconds, but the crash in the last corner made for a nail-biting finish where only 0.09 seconds remained of their advantage.
SD Worx-Protime had been 13 seconds slower than Lidl-Trek at the turning point but came very close at the finish, only 1.8 seconds down in the end. Movistar Team were last off the ramp and finished in eighth.
The race continues on Monday with a stage from Bunyol to Moncofa that is likely to end in a sprint.
Results
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