Gallery: A final-stage showdown in beautiful Burgos
When the riders left Covarrubias to begin Sunday’s final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, the GC was still wide open. Having won stage 3 a day earlier, Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ) was leading overall, but no fewer than 15 riders were within 15 seconds of the Spanish champion. And with a climb of more than 11 km to finish the Women’s WorldTour race, just about anything was possible.
While TV coverage of the deciding stage was limited to a finish-line camera, quite the battle played out on the roads of northern Spain. Demi Vollering (SD Worx) won the day, to add to her clean sweep from Itzulia the week before, but only after a battle on the final climb with Juliette Labous (DSM). Second place on the stage was enough to give Labous the overall victory, ahead of rising star and fellow Frenchwoman Évita Muzic (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope).
Here’s how the final stage of the women’s Vuelta a Burgos unfolded, courtesy of some great snaps from the Cor Vos and Getty photo agencies. Next up in the Women’s WorldTour: the three-day Ride London Classique, starting this Friday.
SD Worx had another good race, winning two stages, the points and KOM jerseys, and the teams classification.Points classification leader (and stage 1 winner) Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) cools herself off. She’d get in the breakaway late in the stage.Like Kopecky, Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) would get up the road later in the stage.There’s Brand leading the breakaway, which also featured Anna Shackley and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx), Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), and Marie Le Net (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope).Niamh Fisher-Black was again impressive for SD Worx, setting a tempo for Vollering on the final climb.There’s Fisher-Black again, leading Labous and Vollering.The decisive move: Vollering clear on the final climb with Labous (front) and Colombian Paula Patiño (Movistar, centre).Soon it was just Labous and Vollering …… with Vollering eyeing off another solo move.The 25-year-old Dutchwoman broke clear …… and won the stage by 17 seconds ahead of Labous.It’s Vollering’s sixth win for the year, and there are many races still to come.At just 21, Fisher-Black’s already one of the best climbers in the peloton and a valuable teammate.Labous’s second place meant she won the race overall after starting the day in eighth.Muzic finished third, the French champ maintaining her second on GC by race’s end.Muzic only started her season in April after needing surgery on her knee in January. She’s building nicely towards what will be one of her big goals for the year: the Tour de France Femmes.After starting the day in the overall lead, García slipped to 15th after dropping time on the final climb.Overall victory for Labous …… ahead of Muzic and Vollering, who moved up 27 places on the final stage to take third.Vollering is now leading the Women’s WorldTour rankings as well. A big few months of WWT racing lies ahead.Read More
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