Starting in a similar fashion to the last two editions of La Vuelta Femenina, this year’s race began with an opening team time trial, with the riders rolling off the ramp to take on a 16km-long course around Valencia.
It was a tightly contested stage, with all of the top teams battling it out to give their leaders an early advantage in the general classification. However, it was Lidl-Trek that emerged victorious, as they averaged just under 50km/h to finish in a time of 19:20, with Gaia Realini leading the team across the line to take the first leader’s jersey of the race.
However, the American team could have gone quicker if it were not for a crash in the final corner, as Ellen van Dijk and Elynor Bäckstedt hit the deck, which held up some of their teammates on the approach to the finish. They managed to quickly regroup though and give one last push to the line to take the victory by just 0.02 seconds over Visma-Lease a Bike.
EF Education-Cannondale set the early benchmark with the first sub-20 minute time of the stage before several of the favourites’ teams headed out onto the course. However, when Visma-Lease a Bike went through the intermediate split at the halfway point, it was clear that they would not be at the top for much longer.
When they reached the finish, the Dutch team had set the new fastest time by nine seconds and were in the hot seat with 19:20 as the time to beat. Canyon-SRAM were the next big team across the line, with 19-year-old Zoe Bäckstedt dragging her teammates to the finish, but they were eight seconds off the pace.
All eyes were on Lidl-Trek though, as they were the quickest team over the first half of the course, with eight seconds of an advantage on Visma-Lease a Bike at the intermediate split. Coming into the finale, the riders were in formation and strung out in a line, but as they exited the final corner Ellen van Dijk got on the pedals slightly too early and her back wheel slipped out, which caused her to crash along with Elynor Bäckstedt who was right behind her.
This left Brodie Chapman and Elisa Longo Borghini alone ahead of their teammates and with the time taken at the fourth rider across the line, they were forced to sit up in order to regroup. Gaia Realini, Lizzie Deignan and Amanda Spratt were able to quickly rejoin them though and they mustered one final effort to get to the finish.
Although it looked like their hopes of a stage win had been snatched away from them, the clock was still in the green as they approached the line, with Realini urging her teammates on. In the end, they had just done enough to hang on for the victory, beating Visma-Lease a Bike by just 0.02 seconds.
They still had SD Worx-Protime to come though, with the European Time Trial Champion Marlen Reusser on the front as they went under the flamme rouge. However, they had been behind at the intermediate split and were unable to recover all of their lost time over the second half of the course, as they narrowly missed out on the victory, finishing 1.8 seconds down on Lidl-Trek.
The last team off the ramp at the start was Movistar, but they were unable to contest the victory, finishing 12 seconds down on Lidl-Trek, who took a well-earned victory as well as the first maillot rojo of the race, which Realini will be wearing on stage 2 from Buñol to Moncofa.
When asked in her post-race interview whether they will now look to hold on to the leader’s jersey, Realini replied “for sure, we will take this jersey and defend for the next stage”.
The Italian rider also reflected on a fast team time trial and a chaotic finale, as she said “I’m really happy about this result for me and for the team, but I’m not completely happy because in the last corner two of my teammates crashed. In the end we will take this result and focus for the next stage”.
RESULTS: LA VUELTA FEMENINA, STAGE ONE, VALENCIA > VALENCIA (16KM)
1. Lidl-Trek, in 19:20
2. Visma-Lease a Bike, same time
3. SD Worx-Protime, +1s
4. Canyon-SRAM, +8s
5. EF Education-Cannondale, +9s
6. FDJ-SUEZ, same time
7. Liv AlUla Jayco, +10s
8. Movistar, +12s
9. dsm-firmenich PostNL, +17s
10. AG Insurance-Soudal, +32s
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
1. Gaia Realini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 19:20
2. Lizzie Deignan (GBr) Lidl-Trek
3. Brodie Chapman (Aus) Lidl-Trek
4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
5. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Lidl-Trek
6. Elynor Bäckstedt (GBr) Lidl-Trek
7. Ellen van Dijk (Ned) Lidl-Trek
8. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Anna Henderson (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike
10. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
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