Marianne Vos surged to victory in a bunch sprint for the line on stage three of the Vuelta Femenina in Teruel.
Vos firmly distanced Charlotte Kool of dsm–firmenich PostNL as the peloton surged for the line meaning she won by several metres.
Kool took second with Olivia Baril of Movistar taking third.
Meanwhile, AG Insurance-Soudal’s Mireia Benito was caught at seven kilometres to go after spending more than 120 kilometres solo at the head of the race. At one point the Spaniard had an advantage of more than five minutes but that tumbled as the race approached the finish.
Once Benito was caught, various teams assembled at the front of the peloton as the riders got set for the sprint. Vos was shepherded into the final kilometre by her teammate, Riejanne Markus, before the moves started to come with the line in sight. The Dutchwoman masterfully surfed the wheels before sprinting alongside Kool for the line.
In the end, Vos simply had too much power for her fellow countrywoman meaning that the win was never in doubt for Visma-Lease a Bike. Kata Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) held onto the race leader's red jersey after taking two bonus seconds in the day's intermediate sprint.
Blanka Vas now leads the overall standings by just one second ahead of Vos.
"I’m very happy and satisfied," Vos said post-race. "Yesterday we already worked hard but had some bad luck in the final, then today we went all-in again. All the girls worked really really hard for this, its really nice to finish it off. I’m very happy with this win."
Similarly to stage two, the race was hit by several crashes during the day.
"The wet roads in the beginning were very slippery, then there were a lot of crashes, you just hope that everybody gets through it ok," Vos said as she recalled the various incidents. "In the final, I didn’t really see what happened as we were just trying to get in a good position for the finish. They always say that crashes are a part of the race, but it’s never nice when it happens."
How it happened
The third stage of the Vuelta Femenina got underway with four riders missing from the peloton in Llucena. Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Marta Cavalli (FDJ Suez), Clara Emond (EF Education-Cannondale) and Sabrina Stultiens (VolkerWessels) were all non-starters. Henderson broke her collarbone for the second time this season after a crash near the finish on stage two won by Alison Jackson.
Once the racing got going, AG Insurance-Soudal’s Mireia Benito attacked after just 12 kilometres of racing, and rapidly built up a gap of more than a minute. Six riders briefly attempted to pursue Benito, but their move was short lived.
With 49 kilometres left to race, Benito’s advantage was at more than five minutes as the hilly terrain rolled on. Lidl-Trek and dsm–firmenich PostNL had multiple riders on the front of the main field as they attempted to orchestrate the chase behind the Spanish rider.
Grace Brown (FDJ Suez) looked to take advantage of the lack of cohesion in the peloton and accelerated up the road in search of Benito. The Spaniard still held a huge advantage, making her the virtual red jersey on the road, but Brown began to gradually eat into it.
As the riders came through the intermediate sprint point at Mora de Rubielos, an injection of speed at the front of the peloton as riders battled for bonus seconds on offer meant that Brown was reeled in.
With 27 kilometres to go, Natalia Grinczer of the Roland team went down in a heavy crash and was taken out of the race by medics. Teniel Campbell (Liv-AIUla-Jayco) and Deniek Hangeveld (dsm-firmenich) were also involved.
Benito’s lead was beginning to crumble as many teams looked towards a possible reduced bunch sprint finish. The Spaniard had just over a minute left of her advantage as the riders went under 20 kilometres to go. She was caught with just seven kilometres left to race as the peloton got set for a bunch kick.
As the riders tore under the one kilometre to go banner, various teams looked to tee up their fast riders. Visma-Lease a Bike swarmed across the front of the peloton as they looked to set up Marianne Vos for the win.
FDJ Suez looked to open up proceedings, but Charlotte Kool of dsm–firmenich PostNL, Vos and Lianne Lippert (Movistar) were the three strongest riders. Kool and Vos pulled away from their rivals before Vos jumped clear to grab her 252nd career victory.
Results
Vuelta Femenina, stage 3: Llucena > Teruel (130.2 km)
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:46:52
2. Charlotte Kool (Ned) dsm-Firmenich Post NL,
3. Oliva Baril (Can) Movistar,
4. Ingvild Gaskjenn (Nor) Liv-ALUla-Jayco,
5. Lily Williams (Usa) Human Powered Health,
6. Flora Perkins (Gbr) Fenix-Deceuninck,
7. Eleonora Ciabocco (Ita) dsm-Firmenich Post NL,
8. Caroline Andersson (Swe) Liv-ALUla-Jayco,
9. Mischa Bredewold (Ned) SD Worx-Protime,
10. Magdeleine Vallieres (Can) EF Education-Cannondale, all at same time
General classification after stage three
1. Kata Blanka Vas (Hun) SD Worx-Protime, in 06:57:04
2. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, at 1s
3. Alison Jackson (Can) EF Education-Cannondale at 10s
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, at 11s
5. Eva Van Agt (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike,
6. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike,
7. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Lidl-Trek,
8. Sophie Von Berswordt (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike,
9. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek,
10. Brodie Chapman (Aus) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
