Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a BIke) has been forced to abandon the Vuelta España Femenina after breaking her collarbone in a crash on the opening day.
Vos, who is the race's record stage winner, was looking for a seventh win when she crashed into a ditch on a wet section of road late on in the race's opening day on Sunday.
While she still managed to finish seventh on the uphill finish to Slavaterra de Miño, she was later to found to have broken her collarbone, the injury forcing the 38-year-old to abandon the race ahead of Monday's stage.
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The stage was won by Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), but the uphill finish clearly suited Vos's punchy style, and she would have been targeting a seventh stage win at Spain's Grand Tour. She has competed in each of the four editions since the race changed to its current format in 2023, winning three stages in that opening edition, two in 2024 and one last season.
Monday's second stage might well have provided Vos another opportunity, but it was not to be.
"Marianne will unfortunately not start stage 2 of @laVueltafem. She suffered a broken collarbone after her crash in the final kilometers of the opening stage. We wish Marianne a good and speedy recovery," read a post on the team's social media accounts.
It's been a tough year for Vos, with the death of her father overshadowing the season and causing her to withdraw from the Tour of Flanders. The following week, she was pipped into second place at Paris-Roubaix by Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ), despite her Visma-Lease a Bike team having a numerical advantage in the final.
The Vuelta Femenina continues on Monday with a 109.8km stage between Lobios and San Cibrao das Viñas.
