She just held off Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) who sprinted from the chasing group and just passed Włodarczyk's late attack companion Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) to take second place and defend the leader's jersey.
After the peloton was split on the Aretxabalgane climb, a group of 24 riders started the last unclassified climb together. Van Anrooij launched the decisive attack 6.9km from the finish, and Włodarczyk jumped after her. The 25-year-old Polish rider briefly dropped Van Anrooij over the top of the climb, but the 24-year-old Dutchwoman returned very quickly, and they then traded turns until the finishing straight.
With the chase group closing quickly and Bredewold going for a long sprint, Włodarczyk just held off the yellow jersey to win the stage.
"I really wanted to perform well in the Ardennes Classics but caught a virus. So I came here with only one and a half weeks of training. I am really happy and surprised by my shape right now. Today, I had nothing to lose. I tried and I won, and I still cannot believe it," said Włodarczyk at the finish.
"I had in my mind that there is an uncategorised climb 7km from the finish line. I wanted to try there. Then, on the left side, I saw Shirin starting to attack and was like, 'OK, now or never'. I followed her wheel, and then suddenly I had really good legs. I had no idea where they came from because I had crashed early on the stage."
Włodarczyk moved up to sixth overall but would not make any commitments regarding the GC.
"We wanted to take this race stage by stage because we had no idea how my shape is, where my legs are. When we come back to the hotel, we can start to think about tomorrow. But for now, I would just really like to enjoy this victory."
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Włodarczyk was overjoyed at the finish (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
Covering 138km from Abadiño to Amorebieta-Etxano, the stage included five third-category climbs and several unclassified hills.
Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech) led the peloton over the Trabakua mountain sprint to defend her QoM jersey, also collecting points later on to bring her total to 22 points. With 19 points on offer on the final stage, only a select few riders have a mathematical chance to wrest the white-and-red jersey from Kastelijn.
Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) went on a solo attack 106km from the finish. The Czech rider built a gap of up to 1:25 minutes and stayed ahead of the peloton for almost fifty kilometres before being reeled in early on the San Pelaio climb. For her effort, Nosková was rewarded with the combativity prize.
Nosková spent the middle part of the race out front alone (Image credit: Getty Images)
Bredewold won the intermediate sprint in Ibarra with 34.1km to go, and soon after, Noä Jansen (Liv AlUla Jayco) launched an attack. But when a group of 11 riders bridged across to Jansen, the peloton took control again and neutralised the move.
Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco) then attacked early on the Aretxabalgane climb, 4.6km at 5.4%, and a select chase group formed behind her, including Juliette Berthet, Évita Muzic (both FDJ United-Suez), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), and Liane Lippert (Movistar).
At the top of the climb, 22.5km from the line, Andersson was 11 seconds ahead of the four chasers who eventually caught up with the Swede on the descent. The next group of seven riders also came back from behind, then Lippert attacked on a short climb halfway down the descent, and Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) went after Lippert.
When Lippert crashed in a wet corner, Adegeest went into the lead, and she won the intermediate sprint in Muxika with 13.8km to go while Lippert, now in the chase group, took the two remaining bonus seconds ahead of Usoa Ostolaza (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi).
Van Anrooij and Włodarczyk were the next to attack (Image credit: Getty Images)
Bredewold herself went on the chase to close down Adegeest, and soon, there was a group of 24 riders at the front, with Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Valentina Cavallar (SD Worx-Protime) controlling the pace for Bredewold and Kastelijn – until Van Anrooij and Włodarczyk attacked on the unclassified Autzagane climb.
The two attackers were 18 seconds ahead at the top, 5km from the line, and still 11 seconds up at the flamme rouge, but on the finishing straight, they looked back towards the chasing group where Bredewold was already winding up her sprint. Włodarczyk finally launched her sprint with 150 metres to go, got the jump on Van Anrooij, and could celebrate her victory as she rolled across the finish line while Bredewold flew past the Lidl-Trek rider to take second place.
The dash for the line (Image credit: Getty Images)
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.
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