Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech) has swept to overall victory in the Vuelta a Burgos Fèminas after taking the final stage win at the summit finish of Lagunas de Neila.
15 seconds later, Évita Muzic (FDJ United-Suez) finished second on the stage and with it the overall. Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) crossed the line 24 seconds back to take both third place on the stage and on GC.
Muzic had set a hard pace on the steepest part of the climb, riding everyone but Kastelijn off her wheel. Kastelijn then attacked 1.3km from the finish to leave Muzic behind and solo away to victory.
“Muzic set a really high pace and I just tried to follow. I did the same last week in Itzulia with Niedermaier. I waited until two to go, it was not flat, but it was a bit less steep. Then I could go with more speed. When I had a gap, it was just full gas to the finish,” said Kastelijn.
Winless since a stage victory in the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, this is Kastelijn’s first Women’s WorldTour GC victory.
“I felt really strong already last week and also yesterday and today. It was a long time ago that I won a race, so I really, really wanted it. I was super close last week, that was extra motivation to take the win today. I really love to be in Spain, luckily, the weather is a bit better than the last weeks. I’m happy to take the victory home,” Kastelijn said.
How it unfolded
Ending in a 6km climb at an average 9.9%, the final stage of 120km was always going to decide the general classification.
Sara Martín (Movistar) attacked 12km after the start in Gumiel de Mercado and quickly built an advantage of several minutes. Federica Venturelli (UAE Team ADQ) started a solo chase after 20km, reaching Martín with 83km to go. Their gap went up to a maximum of 6:40 minutes 70km from the finish before the peloton slowly stepped up the chase.
At the intermediate sprint in Huerta de Abajo with 27.5km to go, Martín and Venturelli were still 2:46 minutes ahead. Martín then dropped Venturelli on the Alto de Tolbaños climb where Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Titia Ryo (Human Powered Health) attacked from the peloton.
Martín crested the climb 43 seconds up on Ryo and Reijnhout who then caught Venturelli on the descent. The peloton was still 1:15 minutes behind. On the unclassified Collado de Huerta, Venturelli was caught by the peloton who also reeled in Ryo, Reijnhout, and finally Martín on the descent, resetting the race with 7.2km to go.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) led the peloton on the climb, then Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) did one last turn before Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) took over.
Amber Kraak (FDJ United-Suez) came to the front at the 5km mark to set the pace; when she swung off 4.3km from the finish, only Muzic, Kastelijn, Ostolaza, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Mireia Benito (both AG Insurance-Soudal), Amanda Spratt, Shirin van Anrooij (both Lidl-Trek), Cédrine Kerbaol, Alice Towers (both EF Education-Oatly), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Maud Oudeman, Katharina Sadnik (both Visma-Lease a Bike), and Squiban were left in the first group.
With 4.2km to go, Moolman-Pasio led the group into the steepest part of the climb, 2.2km at an average 12.2%, but Muzic quickly took the front, and her pace blew the group apart, with only Kastelijn able to keep up with the Frenchwoman.
Muzic continued to lead Kastelijn up the climb while the riders behind them slowly came together to form a second group that included Moolman-Pasio, Van Anrooij, Kerbaol, Oudeman, Bredewold and Spratt. Ostolaza, Benito, and Towers made their way back to this second group that steadily lost time to Muzic and Kastelijn, being 40 seconds behind at the 2km mark.
Kastelijn’s move on the penultimate kilometre left Muzic behind, and Ostolaza attacked in the group behind. Benito went with her but lost contact in the final kilometre, finishing fourth on the day and in the GC.
With the summit finish stage win, Kastelijn also took the red mountain jersey while Wiebes won the green points jersey courtesy of her two stage wins. Van Anrooij won the U25 white jersey with a sixth place overall.
Results
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