Vuelta a Burgos Féminas: Mie Bjørndal Ottestad beats Marlen Reusser to stage 2 victory in two-up sprint

Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility) took the biggest victory of her career so far when she won stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas, outsprinting Marlen Reusser (Movistar) after the two had attacked over the top of the day's only classified climb with 7km to go.

Reusser and Ottestad worked together to keep the chasing peloton behind, and on the finishing straight, Ottestad came around Reusser to take the win in Roa de Duero. 

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) won the sprint for third place 18 seconds later, but her teammate Lotte Kopecky was held up by a mass crash 30km from the line and finished 1:45 minutes down.

Norwegian champion Ottestad is the new GC leader going into stage 3.

"It’s my first WorldTour victory, so I’m really happy. I don’t really understand it yet. It was a hectic final, and to be able to go with Marlen and outsprint her was really cool," said Ottestad.

Originally, she was not the team’s protected rider for the day, but Ottestad grasped the opportunity when it presented itself.

"We were going for a sprint today with Linda [Zanetti], but then the last climb was a bit harder than we expected," recalled the Norwegian. "We also thought there would be some attacks. I was on it, we got a gap, and then it was just about holding on to the finish line."

How it unfolded

The 122km stage from Villalba de Duero to Roa de Duero was the flattest road stage of the race, with only one classified climb, the Alto de Cerca Peseta, cresting 7km from the finish.

Andrea Alzate (Eneicat-CM) and Irene Cagnazzo (BePink-Imatra-Bongioanni) attacked after 10km to form the break of the day, building an advantage of up to three minutes. They were reeled in with 31.5km to go.

Less than two kilometres later, a mass crash took down almost twenty riders and held up many more. Although nobody looked badly hurt, the crash had a big influence on the stage anyway as it split the peloton in two, with world champion Kopecky the most prominent rider in the second group.

UAE Team ADQ took charge in the first peloton, trying to force echelons on the finishing circuit, but the wind was not strong enough. 

However, this meant that the gap to the dropped riders became bigger and bigger, even though SD Worx-Protime called Femke Markus back to lead the chase together with Marie Schreiber, Barbara Guarischi, and Kopecky herself.

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) attacked on the Alto de Cerca Peseta, and only Reusser could follow her move. Élise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) jumped across the gap, but Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) brought Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), and the Uno-X Mobility duo of Ottestad and Katrine Aalerud back.

Another group returned before the top of the climb, making it about 15 riders in front. Longo Borghini had just taken a turn and swung off when Reusser accelerated with Ottestad in her wheel, putting the group in single file and opening a gap. 

With Longo Borghini looking around for support, the moment to close down Reusser and Ottestad was gone.

They increased their advantage to 21 seconds at the flamme rouge, and Reusser led them onto the slightly uphill finishing straight, trying to gain as much time in GC as possible. 

Ottestad started her sprint at the 100-metre mark and passed Reusser to win the stage and move into the overall lead.

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