When BikeExchange-Jayco crossed the finish line in the stage 1 team time trial at the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta the squad had shaved more than a minute off the best time and took the hot seat. In the end, only Trek-Segafredo could beat the Australian team’s time, finishing six seconds faster to win the stage.
“I was really surprised by how great it felt today. We hadn’t actually ridden all together in a TTT, so it was quite impressive how smooth the entire race went,” said Kristen Faulkner after the team delivered a time of 23 minutes and 37 seconds.
The team had laid a plan for the 19.9-kilometre circuit with the wind direction in mind and executed it well: “We knew we had a headwind going out and a tailwind coming back, so we tried to take some shorter pulls going out and then really push it on the way back,” Faulkner said.
The 29-year-old US rider is the strongest climber on the team, as evidenced by her Giro d’Italia Donne where she won a stage and the mountain jersey, but she is only one of several options for the general classification. Alexandra Manly’s advantage is her excellent sprint, but she has shown at The Women’s Tour and Tour of Scandinavia that she can hold her own on climbs, too.
Last but not least, there is Ane Santesteban. The small Basque climber has had a somewhat disappointing season so far, partly due to illness, but must not be underestimated if she goes on the attack.
Although stage 2 is the hardest stage of the race with five classified climbs, none of them are as long as those in the Giro d’Italia Donne or Tour de France Femmes, and there are 14 kilometres between the top of the last climb to the flat finish.
Since stage 3 has a flat finish as well and stage 4 has a short finishing climb before the race ends with a flat circuit race in Madrid, so Manly may be the best bet for the team's GC hopes. Faulkner indicated that BikeExchange-Jayco will not go all-out on the attack, because after that team time trial it simply doesn't need to.
“Now we can play a little bit defensively in the next few days and put the pressure on the other teams to chase any attacks,” Faulkner said.
