The list of riders out of the race continued to grow following stage 3 of La Vuelta Femenina, with Emma Norsgaard among those bowing out of the race as she felt the impact of a stage 2 crash.
"The Dane’s DNF from La Vuelta, Tuesday, was a result of her pain to elbow (bruise + stitches received after Monday’s stage two) + significant cervical contracture following yesterday’s crash," said her Movistar team on social media.
"Transferred by race ambulance to Teruel’s Hospital Obispo Polanco, examinations for major injuries came back negative."
Norsgaard, however, was far from the only withdrawal on the stage – with a number of crashes adding to withdrawals from a start list that had started dwindling even before the race got underway, with Canyon-Sram Justyna Czapla and Neve Bradbury unable to start due to illness.
Anna Henderson was then among the abandons after coming down on a crash-marred stage 2. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider who had not long returned to racing after breaking her collarbone did it all over again and was listed as a DNS on stage 3. As was Clara Emond (EF Education-Cannondale), who also fractured her elbow in the same crash near the end of that stage.
Marta Cavalli and Vittoria Guazzini of FDJ-Suez were also added to the abandon list on stage 3. Cavalli has already had a tough start to the season after a pelvis injury sustained while training forced her to start the season late.
"Unfortunately I couldn’t take the start this morning at La Vuelta Femenina. Health is our priority," said Cavalli in an Instagram post. "I cheer for my FDJ-Suez teammates. Thanks to the team always by my side."
The French team, which includes Évita Muzic and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Grace Brown, is now down to five riders, along with Canyon-SRAM who lost Bradbury as a GC card but still have Kasia Niewiadoma and Ricarda Bauernfeind as a powerful duo to chase the overall.
There were four riders listed as DNS and six as DNF – including Natalie Grinczer (Roland) and India Grangier (Coop-Repsol) – on the stage 3 results.
Wednesday's fourth stage will begin without world time trial champion Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) "due to ongoing injuries sustained in stage 1", her team announced.
"Unfortunately I have to leave the Vuelta Femenina. After I struggled a lot to get to the finish yesterday, we decided to give the body what it needs right now," Van Dijk wrote on social media. Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) is also out of the race, with her team announcing that the Belgian "doesn't feet fit".
Stage 4 measures in at 142km, making it the longest stage of the eight-day race, descending toward a likely bunch sprint in Zaragoza, and while the terrain may not be particularly challenging, the crashes on stage 3 will have left a number of riders and teams ascertaining the impact overnight.
One such example is Liv-AlUla-Jayco's Teniel Campbell who came down on stage 3 but continued on to finish, with her team reporting on social media that she had no broken bones but some pain and plans to start stage 4.
