Tour of California Women's Race: Van der Breggen wins stage 1

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Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) won stage 1 of the Tour of California Women's Race in Ventura on Thursday. The world and Olympic road race champion attacked on the last climb of the day with 5km to go, passing lone leader Olga Zabelinskaya (Cogeas Mettler Look) and going solo on the descent. Racing into a strong headwind on the finishing straight, Van der Breggen held a gap of 18 seconds to a chase group of 16 riders where Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Cylance) sprinted to second place ahead of Arlenis Sierra (Astana Women's Team). 

Starting and finishing in Ventura, stage 1 was effectively a 96.5km out-and-back course. It included five 'Queen of the Mountains' climbs on Casitas Pass Road and Gobernador Canyon Road, as well as an intermediate sprint at the top of a final short climb on the outskirts of Ventura. Strong westerly winds influenced the race as the first half of the stage was predominantly into a headwind, while on the final leg, the peloton was happy to be pushed home by a tailwind.

The earlier headwind didn't do anything to discourage breakaway attempts, however. US teams Twenty20-Sho Air, Rally UHC and Hagens Berman-Supermint were particularly active, and eventually Lindsay Goldman, of the latter team, got away. The peloton was happy to have a single rider up ahead, and Goldman's advantage maxed out at 1:30 with 69 km to go.

Goldman's solo move earned her the jersey for most aggressive rider. She took full points on the first three QOMs but was caught shortly after the third one, with 54 km still to be raced. Boels Dolmans took control of the race leading into the second-category climb up Casitas Pass Road, reducing the peloton to 25 riders by the top. Liliana Moreno (Astana Women's Team) was first over the top, and won the fifth QOM sprint, putting her in the polka-dot mountains jersey for stage 2.

Zabelinskaya attacked just after the top of the climb, quickly getting a one-minute gap as the peloton didn't react immediately, with dropped riders coming back on the descent. On the downhill run-in to Ventura, Zabelinskaya increased her advantage to 1:30 minutes before Boels Dolmans realised the danger and started to close the gap.

Crosswinds in the final 10km caused splits in the peloton, but also made it harder for Zabelinskaya to stay away. She started the one-kilometre, nine per cent climb of Ferro Drive 30 seconds ahead of the chasing bunch. Van der Breggen and Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) attacked from the peloton on the steep slopes; they caught and passed Zabelinskaya just before the top, and Van der Breggen continued her attack on the fast descent, leaving Deignan and Zabelinskaya behind.

The world and Olympic champion soloed towards the finish line on the Ventura beachfront and crossed it in triumph, 18 seconds ahead of the first chase group, which was led home by Balsamo, ahead of Sierra.

Van der Breggen will wear the yellow leader's jersey on stage 2 – a short but sharp 75 km route with a summit finish on Mount Baldy. Balsamo took the white jersey as leader of the youth classification, and third-placed Sierra will wear the green points jersey by proxy.

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