Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta: Brennauer wins stage 2 ITT

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Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) has won stage 2 of the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, repeating last year's success in the time trial and putting herself into the overall lead ahead of the final stage.

Brennauer was fastest over the 9.3km course in Boadilla del Monte, stopping the clock after 12:40 seconds and beating Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) by just one second. Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) was third, four seconds behind Brennauer.

Stage 1 winner Lorena Wiebes (Team Sunweb) performed very well, but her time of 13:08 meant that she had to relinquish the overall lead.

“It was very difficult. There was a strong wind, often a headwind, so you also had to push in the downhills, and it also started to rain a little bit,” Brennauer said after the race. “The roads were wet, and I had to go safe out of the corners and probably lost some seconds here and there. But I went fast where I could, and I am so happy with this victory. I didn’t know it was that close, so I’m happy I pushed all the way to the line.”

Looking ahead to the final stage, 17 laps of a circuit in Madrid with bonus seconds on offer at seven intermediate sprints and the finish, Brennauer continued: “Of course I want to win, and now I have the opportunity. My team and I will work on a good strategy for tomorrow. I know the race well, and we have defended the jersey last year, so I will try my best to take some seconds tomorrow, and then we have to see. There is some pressure, but not in a bad way.”

How it unfolded

The individual time trial was held on a technical course with several roundabouts, two U-turns, and two short climbs, using the same route as in 2019.

The first benchmark was set by Janneke Ensing (Mitchelton-Scott) who finished in 13:35 minutes. Only a few minutes later, Vita Heine (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) improved this by 24 seconds, closely followed by her teammate Mieke Kröger who set another best time of 13:01 minutes.

Kröger remained at the top of the leaderboard for 40 minutes and was first beaten by Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb) who stopped the clock at 12:54 minutes. Ten minutes later, Longo Borghini turned heads with a very strong ride over the technical course, taking the lead with 12:41 minutes.

On a course that did not play to their strengths, time trial specialists like Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) and Van Dijk failed to beat Longo Borghini’s time, and only Brennauer was left as a challenger for the stage victory.

Brennauer is the defending champion after her 2019 victory, mainly due to her time trial skills, and she lived up to her role as favourite, beating Longo Borghini by one second on the finish line.

Overnight leader Wiebes also did a strong time trial, finishing just outside the top-10 in 13:08 minutes. The young Dutch sprinter is now fifth in GC, 18 seconds behind Brennauer. Longo Borghini is second at 10 seconds, with Van Dijk and Van Vleuten at 13 and 17 seconds respectively.