In a remarkable comeback to professional cycling, Lotta Henttala (née Lepistö) has captured two second-place podium finishes in the opening stages at Setmana Valenciana, and is just one step away from victory.
"All in all, I am happy with today. Thinking about how last year a comeback wasn’t even on my mind, and now this. It is so great to be part of this team, and it just feels like gold being back,” Henttala said after finishing second to former World Champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) on stage 2 into Vila-Real.
Henttala made her return to the women’s professional peloton at the start of this year with AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep following a period away from the sport to have her child. She also cited burnout as a reason for her absence from racing.
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“It was super special to have Olavi there," Henttala said. “It’s super nice to be back, but it's hectic with a peloton of 160. I need to find my place and rhythm again, which is normal, of course."
She has had a successful racing career, most notably winning Gent-Wevelgem in 2017 and two stages of the Women’s Tour as well finishing on the podium in several other races, including the World Championships road race, RideLondon Classique and La Course.
She raced for teams Bigla and Trek-Segafredo before joining Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling in 2021. She qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games as the sole Finnish representative in the women’s road race but was unable to race after she became pregnant with her son, Olavi.
The Setana Valenciana marks her first race with AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep, a three-tier programme that includes an under-19, under-23 and elite Continental team.
Henttala sprinted to second place in the two opening stages, finishing both times behind Balsamo. In addition, her team AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep showed their early-season strengths in the closing kilometres of stage 2 with a powerful leadout to rival WorldTour outfits Trek-Segafreo, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team ADQ.
"Yesterday we lost each other in the final. Now we set up the sprint train ourselves and dropped her off very well. There are definitely still things to work on, but it looks very promising. This is already impressive, considering we have a new squad. So far, I am very impressed," said director and former pro racer Jolien D'hoore.
