European champion Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx celebrates at finish line as stage 1 winner(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Italian champion Elisa Balsamo (left) of Trek-Segafredo faces off with Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx in the sprint on stage 1(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Valeria Valgonen of Team Massi-Tactic rode solo in the breakaway until 28km to go(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The peloton on 115.6km stage 1(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Aude Biannic of Movistar Team makes a move late in the race(Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Late breakaway (L to R) with 6km to go included Aude Biannic of Movistar Team, Valerie Demey of LIV RacingTeqFind, Elena Pirrone of Israel-Premier Tech and Jade Wiel of FDJ-SUEZ (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Valerie Demey of LIV Racing-TeqFind, Elena Pirrone of Israel-Premier Tech and Aude Biannic of Movistar Team on the late attack(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Kathrin Hammes of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB rides in peloton with Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx and Demi Vollering of Team SD Worx (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Corinna Lechner of Team Massi-Tactic and Magdeleine Vallieres of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB in early breakaway(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The peloton riding from Quintanaortuo to Medina de Pomar (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
More scenery on stage 1(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx celebrates at podium as Purple Leader Jersey(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The stage saw two solo breakaways that never troubled the peloton and a four-rider move that brought some excitement to the final but was reeled in 2.3 kilometres from the finish.
In the sprint, Wiebes had to come from behind and utilised her speed to pass everyone else and take the stage and the first leader's jersey.
“It was really windy, but we also had a lot of headwinds. It was really fast into the last climb of the day, and the team did a good job to control the attacks. Our lead-out was not as planned because there was quite a lot of chaos in the final, but I found a good spot and was able to do my sprint as I wanted,” said the stage winner.
Wiebes then pointed out that defending the leader’s jersey will not be a priority for the team that instead wants to get their GC leader Demi Vollering to stage 4 without any time losses. Last year, Vollering won the queen stage but finished third overall as she had lost 49 seconds the previous day.
“Tomorrow it’s quite a hard finish, uphill. We go again for a stage win, and stage 4 will be for the GC. But our goal is also to not lose time with Demi,” Wiebes explained.
How it unfolded
The first attacker was Corinna Lechner (Massi-Tactic), who went off after 16km of the 115.6-kilometre stage. Her advantage increased to 1:11 minutes before dropping to just under a minute again.
Magdeleine Vallières (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) bridged to the German at the start of the day’s only climb, the third-category Alto La Varga, but they were reeled in on the climb. Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) was first over the top and will wear the red mountain jersey on stage 2.
Lechner’s teammate Valeria Valgonen attacked after the descent to form another solo breakaway. She was up to 1:30 minutes ahead of the peloton until the race hit a crosswind section where Trek-Segafredo increased the pace, leading to Valgonen being caught 32 km from the finish.
After passing through the finishing town of Medina de Pomar with 29km to go, the peloton went on a loop southeast of the small, historic town that included the day’s only intermediate sprint near the top of an uncategorised climb.
Paladin, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ), and Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo) sprinted to the bonus seconds and kept going, prompting a.o. GC favourites Vollering and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio to bridge – but none of the seven riders in this move pressed on fully, and they were quickly reeled in.
Alicia González (Movistar Team) attacked on the descent, and when she was caught 11.5 km from the line, her teammate Aude Biannic and Valerie Demey (Liv Racing TeqFind) countered. Elena Pirrone (Israel-Premier Tech Roland) and Jade Wiel (FDJ-SUEZ) bridged to the front, and together they kept a ten-second gap on a peloton that could not get organised to close this small gap for some time.
Eventually, though, the four frontrunners were caught, and a chaotic sprint ensued. Wiebes was somewhat boxed in coming onto the finishing straight, only finding a gap when Tereza Neumanová (Liv Racing TeqFind) launched her sprint.
Balsamo jumped off the wheel of her teammate Lucinda Brand, but Wiebes was now winding up her speed and passed the Italian champion on the final 50 metres to win the stage.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
