Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) had come to Spain targeting a good GC result in La Vuelta Femenina, and with 2024 Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney lining up in support of the 23-year-old Australian, things were looking good. But Bradbury's goal suffered a heavy blow when she crashed 16km from the finish of stage 2.
It had rained for much of the stage, and while the peloton was passing through a roundabout, a ripple effect led to a touch of wheels that brought down Esmee Gielkens (Lotto). Bradbury and her teammate Anastasiya Kolesava were right behind the Belgian and had no time to react. Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx-Protime) also went down while other riders could avoid hitting the tarmac.
"Neve tried to avoid a crash that happened in front of her. When the crash happened, we had one rider immediately with Neve and we asked two others to wait for her. We chased and tried to limit the time loss while we had two riders in the front group fighting for the stage victory," sport director Szabó told Cyclingnews about the crash.
Despite a concerted chase back with teammates Kolesava, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, and Maike van der Duin, Bradbury crossed the finish line 2:11 minutes down on the stage 2 winner Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The team will now reassess its strategy for the race since Niewiadoma-Phinney and Chloé Dygert stayed in the peloton and did not lose time – but Szabó said that it was too early to change the GC leadership after just one road stage.
"Fortunately, Neve has no major injuries. The team will take the time this evening to evaluate the situation. There are still some days between now and the higher mountains of La Vuelta. Today, we see again that racing doesn't always go according to plan, but it doesn't change the fact that we aim for success," he finished.
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