Vuelta a Burgos Feminas: Unbeatable Lorena Wiebes gallops to opening sprint victory on stage 1 by huge margin

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won stage 1 of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, easily outsprinting Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) to take her 125th career victory

The break of the day was caught 17.5km from the line, setting up a mass sprint in Burgos. The sprinters' teams fought for position, but Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) brought Wiebes onto the finishing straight in perfect position.

When Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) launched her sprint at the 300m mark, Wiebes also opened up and quickly pulled away, crossing the line several bike lengths ahead while four riders fought for the remaining podium spots behind her.

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"The team did a really good job, they were in control all day, and we were also able to do a lead-out. We controlled the breakaway really well with Elena [Cecchini] and Miki[Harvey], and then later we had Blanka [Vas), Mischa [Bredewold], and Barbara for the leadout. Shari Bossuyt started the sprint early, so I had to respond and go for it," said Wiebes after the stage.

With the stage victory, Wiebes also takes the overall lead. Stage 2 will see her wearing the purple leader’s jersey – and continuing to go for sprint victories.

"We go for a stage win again tomorrow. We are here mostly for stage wins, so we will try to win as many stages as possible," Wiebes promised.

How it unfolded

After signing the start sheet in front of Burgos Cathedral and a neutral roll-out, the peloton faced 127km in the countryside north of the city, including three third-category climbs.

Elyne Roussel (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Irene Cagnazzo (Vini Fantini-BePink), and Oda Aune Gissinger (Hitec Products-Fluid Control) attacked only 3km into the stage, though Roussel lost contact with the other two on the Alto de las Rebolledas climb that crested after 11km. Gissinger took maximum points at the top and also won the two other mountain sprints to take the red mountain jersey.

With only two riders left up front, the peloton let Gissinger and Cagnazzo get a lead of over three minutes, but atop the Alto Ermita de las Mercedes with 69km to go, the gap was down to only 1:05 minutes.

Not wanting to catch the break too early, the peloton let the gap go out to 1:50 minutes again before starting to chase. A crash in the feed zone brought down Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility), Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech), and Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco), coincidentally all three national champions, but they were able to continue.

The gap to the front duo went below a minute with 38km to go, and Cagnazzo and Gissinger were reeled in as the race passed through Riocerezo. The intermediate sprint at the 10km mark was won by Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ), taking three bonus seconds ahead of her teammate Alena Ivanchenko and Anniina Ahtosalo (Uno-X Mobility).

The sprint trains came to the fore on the run-in to Burgos as the wide roads offered plenty of room for teams to race side by side. Zoe Bäckstedt brought Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto to the front 2km from the finish, but SD Worx-Protime dropped off Guarischi and Wiebes at the front just before the flamme rouge. AG Insurance-Soudal took the lead in the last kilometre, but Guarischi went through the final corner first, and when Bossuyt started her sprint, Wiebes was in perfect position to react and launch her sprint.

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