Elisa Balsamo wins the final stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
SD Worx-Protime celebrate their win(Image credit: Getty Images)
Elisa Balsamo on the podium(Image credit: Getty Images)
Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels) in the points jersey(Image credit: Getty Images)
Olha Kulynych (Fenix-Deceuninck) won the mountains classification(Image credit: Getty Images)
The final podium: Kasia Niewiadoma, Marlen Reusser and Niamh Fisher-Black(Image credit: Getty Images)
Canyon-Sram was best team(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marlen Reusser won the overall(Image credit: Getty Images)
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won the final stage of the Setmana Valenciana in a bunch sprint following an attacking day of racing into València, as Marlen Reusser (SD Worx-Protime) sealed the overall victory.
Balsamo outsprinted Arlenis Sierra (Movistar) and Nadiaf Quagliotto (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) who took second and third place respectively - taking her second stage victory in this year's edition after her sprint win on stage 1.
Reusser, who takes the general classification win, began the stage with an 8-second advantage over Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) and save for a long solo attack on the Puerto de L'Oronet, it was unlikely the long run-in to the finish in València would allow for a disruption to the order at the top.
A break of three, including Alice Wood (Human Powered Health), Aileen Schweikart (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) and Andrea Alzate (Eneicat-CM Team), broke clear early on the stage.
The trio hovered around a minute ahead of the peloton. However with the approach to the queen climb of Puerto de L'Oronet - 5.6km at 4.8% - the peloton pulled back the three escapees and the peloton was together with a little under 40m remaining.
Mavi García (Liv AlUla Jayco) attacked the peloton a few kilometres below the Puerto de L'Oronet summit and went over the top to take the QOM points. Beyond the summit, the pack pulled all the riders together to lay the ground for a sprint finish on the shallow descent into València.
Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) then animated the final with an attack with 1.5km remaining, but was caught below the flamme rouge as the sprint trains began to move into formation, and Lidl-Trek delivered Balsamo to victory.
Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.
Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.
