Setmana Ciclista Valenciana: Balsamo wins opener in Gandia

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World Champion Elisa Balsamo won the opening stage 1 of Setmana Ciclista Valencia in Gandia on Thursday. 

The Italian, wearing her new rainbow jersey and competing in her first race with Trek-Segafredo, stormed to the victory from a reduced bunch sprint taking the win ahead of Ruby Roseman-Gannon (BikeExchange-Jayco) in second and Anouska Koster (Jumbo-Visma) third.

“A debut like that was in my dreams, but not really in the day's expectations. Last night, in the pre-race meeting, Ina (Teutenberg, director) raised the possibility of such a finish. A lot would depend on my ability to hold out on the last climb. And then the team would do the rest to allow me to sprint. Ina's prophecy came true, and my teammates did an impressive job. It was a perfect day," Balsamo said.

The opening stage offered a 114km race between Tavernes de la Valldigna and Gandia, with the same finish line as last year. There was one intermediate sprint at Barxeta (80km) and three categorised climbs at Alto Serra Grossa (53km, Cat 3), Alto Barxeta (87km, Cat 4) and then Alto Barx (99km, Cat 2), followed by a descent and then a flat 3km to the finish line in Gandia.

An early breakaway formed with two riders: Agnieta Francke (Sopela) and Antri Christoforou (EquipoFarto). Francke head out on her own and gained 34 seconds ahead of the first ascent of the day over the category 3 Alto Serra Grossa. It was not enough to hold off strong climber Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ), who reached the top of the ascent first ahead of Naddine Gill (Sopela) and teammate Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ). 

Magnaldi carried her efforts down the descent and opened a gap of one minute on the field, which later stretched out to nearly two mintues.Magnaldi picked up full points at the day's only intermediate sprint in Barxeta, as the race headed toward the second climb Alto Barx at the 99km mark. She ascended the category 2 climb with ease picking up full mountain poiints over the top, as Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) followed by Elisa Chabey (Canyon-SRAM) crossed the line next leading the group.

Alto Barx was the third and final climb of the stage, and the stronger climbers in the field came to the fore, led by overall defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), Marta Cavalli (FDJ) and Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ), who caught and passed a struggling Magnaldi.

Van Vleuten, Garcia and Cavalli gained 45 seconds on a small chase group, and then what was left of the main field, as the descended directly into Gandia. The chase group caught on to the tail end of the three leaders to form six that included newcomers Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ), Ane Santesteban (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Veronica Ewers (EF Edducation-TIBCO-SVB).

The descent into the finish proved fruitful for a larger group of some 20 riders that caught up to the six escapees with under 2km from the line, and was left to organise a small group sprint, won by Balsamo, for the stage win and first overall leader's jersey.