Ghekiere wins Setmana Valenciana Fèmines with final stage breakaway

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Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) grabbed overall victory at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana on Sunday, finishing second behind stage winner Elise Uijen (Team DSM) in a two-up sprint into Gandia.

AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step went into the final stage with the leader's jersey on the shoulders of stage 3 winner Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, but the general classification lead passed to Ghekiere after a long effort in the day’s breakaway.

A large break went after 40km of racing, of which Uijen and Ghekiere were the final survivors, attacking the remainder of the break on the final climb before the finish. In the final sprint, Uijen just edged the Belgian to take the stage win, her first victory as a professional.

Meanwhile, Ghekiere and Moolman Pasio faced a wait after the finish while the final GC was calculated – the 19-year-old Belgian lay 21 seconds down at the start of the day and took six bonus seconds at the line, meaning she needed 16 at the line to win. 

Some time after the finish, her victory was confirmed, with Moolman Pasio having finished safe in the bunch to secure second overall, giving AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step a one-two on GC.

“It was amazing,” Ghekiere said at the finish. “I didn’t realise I had the GC also. My only goal today was the mountains jersey, and then I was in a good breakaway. Then with Elise Uijen, we had a good pace and yeah, I won the GC, my first real win, the whole classification, it’s amazing.”

“At first I was a little bit sorry for Ashleigh, but we kept it in the team. The Wolfpack is just amazing, best team, perfect team, it’s teamwork.”

How it unfolded

After a big day of climbing on Saturday, the final stage of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana was a less challenging one, featuring three small categorised climbs as the peloton headed from the Tavernes de la Valldigna to Gandia. The hardest climb came last, the 6.7km Alto de Barx, peaking out at 350m of altitude before a 16km downhill run-in to the line. 

With stage 3 winner and overall leader Ashleigh Moolman Pasio only leading by four seconds over Amanda Spratt, and only 21 seconds separating the top 18 riders, there was still a chance for the general classification to change as the race headed to its finale.

The stage started with a 40km stretch of flat roads and as a result, no break went in the early part of the day and after an hour of racing all was still together. Approaching the first climb, the Alto de Serra Grosa, the attacks eventually began and a group of around 20 riders stretched out a 40 second gap on the peloton.

Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) took maximum mountains points ahead of Queen of the Mountains Katia Ragusa (Liv Racing TeqFind), placing the two on equal points. 

With 13 teams represented in the front group, the peloton seemed happy to let them go and the gap grew out to two minutes with 50km remaining. By this point, the group had settled at 16 riders, comprised of Duval (FDJ-Suez), Barker (Uno-X), Quagliotto (Laboral Kutxa Fundación Euskadi), Amialiusik (UAE Team ADQ) Arzuffi, Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) Borghesi, Poidevin, (EF Education-Tibco-SVB), Labecki (Jumbo-Visma), Sanguineti (Trek-Segafredo), Perkins (Fenix Deceuninck) Patiño (Movistar), Uijen (Team DSM), Larrate (Bizkaia Durango), Ragusa and Ghekiere.

Though most of the riders were a long way down on the general classification, the move wasn’t completely lacking in GC threats, as stage 3 breakaway rider Elise Uijen was only 1:17 down, and Moolman Pasio’s own teammate Ghekiere was just 21 seconds adrift of the leader at the start of the day. 

The breakaway situation remained stable for a long stretch, and it wasn’t until the final 30km that the situation began to change. 

Sanguinetti and Ragusa were the first to be dropped when the breakaway tackled the penultimate climb, the Alto de Barxeta, and as they hit the base of the final Alto de Barx, the group began attacking each other. Kerbaol and Larrate went on the attack first, as the break’s advantage fell under a minute.

Kerbaol went into the final 20km alone but was rejoined by Barker, Uijen, Ghekiere and Gaia Realini (Trek-Segafredo), who had bridged from the peloton with some help from teammate Elisa Balsamo. Kerbaol and Barker were soon distanced again, leaving just three at the front with the peloton now less than 30 seconds down. 

Ghekiere crested the top of the Alto de Barx first, securing victory in the Queen of the Mountains jersey. With Realini and Ghekiere on equal time on GC, the overall victory was within sight for both if the trio were to stay away. However, it was Uijen who really pushed on on the descent, with only Ghekiere able to follow. 

The pair had 40 seconds on the remainder of the peloton going into the last 4km and looked set to battle it out for victory, with Ghekiere poised to take the overall if the gap on the line was big enough.

In the final straight, it was a sprint between climbers but Elise Uijen managed to hold her power for the longest, just edging out Ghekiere on the line to take the win. The pair finished 16 seconds ahead of the bunch, which with bonus seconds gave Ghekiere the overall win, just one second ahead of her teammate Moolman Pasio. 

This marks the 26-year-old’s first win as a professional, and caps off a successful week for AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step, securing a one-two overall, two second places for Lotta Henttala, and Moolman Pasio’s Queen stage victory.

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