Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta: Van Vleuten wins stage 3 with 50km solo attack

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Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) went on a 50km solo raid to win stage 3 at the Challenge by La Vuelta. Van Vleuten won the stage by 2:48 ahead of a select chase-group sprint won by Liane Lippert (Team DSM) in second place and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM).

"It was a surprise," said van Vleuten. "I had a good block of altitude training and I thought that I wasn't super well rested, but maybe the first two days helped me a bit and today I felt great. I had a good plan with the team.

"We knew there was a tricky downhill, and I thought that was a good chance to attack. Kasia and Elisa [Longo Borghini] came with me but at some point they could not follow, so I thought maybe I was in good shape and maybe [the win] was possible."

Van Vleuten, who won the stage 2 time trial and started the day 1:39 down in the general classification, takes the overall race lead from overnight leader Marlen Reusser (Ale BTC Ljubljana).

"After the first stage I thought maybe we lost [the overall] but on the other hand, I always want to try, and you never know," van Vleuten said. "To win a GC you need a strong team. If we could isolate Marlen Reusser, I had a chance, and she was isolated.

"The GC is not over, it's not the Tour de France where we go on the Champs-Élysées tomorrow. I will need to be focused with my team to defend, but with my team we have confidence that we can fight for it."

The Challenge by la Vuelta closes out on Sunday with 107.4km from As Pontes to Santiago de Compostela. Stage 4 is a race for the sprinters, a flatter day where an anticipated bunch sprint will take place at the historic Plaza del Obradoiro in Santiago de Compostela.

How it unfolded

Stage 3 started at the Cabeza de Manzaneda Ski Resort and covered 107.9km to Pereiro de Aguiar. The race included two ascents at the category 3 Alto de Cerdeira (18.7km) and the category 2 Alto de A Lama (64.7km) with another undulating approach to the finish in Pereiro de Aguiar.

The first breakaway included Alison Jackson (Liv Racing), Ilaria Sanguineti (Valcar Travel & Service) and Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma) cleared the field 20km into the stage but the move was short-lived and and the field was back together again less than 10km later.

The most decisive move happened at 60km to go when Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) launched an attack followed by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Kata Blanka Vas (SD Worx).

Van Vleuten won stage 2 time trial and started the stage 1:39 down on stage 1 winner and overnight leader Marlen Reusser (Ale BTC Ljubljana), but vowed fight to make stage 3 difficult in an effort to take the overall leader’s jersey at the Challenge by la Vuelta.

The breakaway gained 1:35 on the main field and half a minute on a chase group that included  Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), Liane Lippert and Floortje Mackaij (Team DSM), and Reusser.

Van Vleuten made a long-range and winning attack inside the final 50km of the stage and gained more than two and a half minutes on the select chase group that formed behind, crossing the finish line with the stage 3 victory and the overall leader’s jersey.

The chase group of eight riders fell apart with Lippert, Mackaij, Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma pushing forward in pursuit of second place on the day, as Reusser was distanced in the last kilometres of the stage.

Longo Borghini started the chase-group sprint too soon and was passed by Lippert, who took second place on the day, with Niewiadoma in third place.