Mavi Garcíá won stage 2 of the Vuelta Ciclista Andalucia Women in the early-summer heat of southern Spain, ending an 11-month drought for the reigning Spanish National Champion.
On a second straight day of outright domination by the Liv AIUIAa Jayco squad, stage 1 winner Silke Smulders placed second a few seconds behind, with Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) in third.
The three riders escaped from a key 14-strong move that formed halfway through the rugged 148.8 kilometre stage from Arjona to Otura close to Grenada.
As temperatures soared to the mid-30s on a day of intense heat in southern Spain, Garcíá took off a kilometre from the line for her first win since claiming her fifth National Championships road title last June.
“I was a long, hard, and very hot day! Even for me!" Garcíá said.
"Yesterday was the day for Silke and today it was for me. I attacked 10km to go and she came with me. It was easier for us with two and I attacked again when we were 3km from the finish. Silke let the other girl work until she attacked at the end and was able to get second place. I'm very happy to take this win. It's my first for Liv AlUla Jayco, so it is special.”
A breakaway of 11 riders formed in the early kilometres of the hilly stage but with none of them close threats on GC, Liv AIUIa Jayco were content to let the move go. The 11 crowned the one classified climb of the day, the Cat 3 Puerto del Castillo (km 62) with an advantage of around 90 seconds.
The situation then changed radically when the top three riders in the overall classification, Smulders, Mav García and Ella Wyllie bridged across. This boosted the breakaway total to 14, with a fourth Liv AIUI Jayco rider, Quinty Ton, also there. That forced the rival squads to chase as the 14 riders built a gap of around two minutes.
Uno X Mobility definitely did not need to collaborate in the chase. The Norwegian team had three riders - defending Andalucia champion Katrine Aalerud, Mie Bjørndal Ottestad and Anouska Koster, in the attack.
The earliest bid for stage glory came from Italy’s Giorgia Vetorello (Roland) who attacked from the breakaway with 65 kilometres remaining to race. Once that move was snuffed out the 14 stayed together until much closer to the rugged finale in Otura. This was partly thanks to the bunch finally beginning to close the gap to under a minute, forcing the breakaways to maintain their collaboration on the draggy series of climbs up to the town overlooking Granada.
The late and decisive attack came from Garcíá, Smulders and Ottestad with 10 kilometres to go. Their gap was a perilously narrow one but it proved sufficient to allow the trio to enter Otura just ahead of the 11 chasers.
García opened up the throttle on the very technical run-in, with Smulders happy to keep Ottestad under control. Although no time bonuses were on offer, 24 hours after she let Smulders have the day’s glory, Garcíá stayed away to win the stage and move into the overall lead.
Results
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