SD Worx-Protime were the team that initiated the echelons early on stage 4 of La Vuelta Femenina, and with good reason: The Dutch team's two GC riders Demi Vollering and Niamh Fisher-Black were among the seven GC contenders that made the front echelon, in the end taking almost two minutes on the rest of the field. For the remainder of the race, there will effectively be two GC races: One for the overall victory and one for the bottom of the top ten.
Stage winner Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) made a big jump up the overall standings due to the ten-second gap she had at the finish and the same number of bonus seconds. The 31-year-old Alaska native is now third overall, nine seconds behind the new red jersey Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) remains in fourth place, 18 seconds down on Vos, and kept her own GC hopes intact, but her team's co-leader Gaia Realini was in the group that finished 2:01 minutes behind Faulkner, dropping down the standings to 18th place at 2:11 minutes. This may give Realini some freedom in the hunt for stage victories, but her hopes of finishing on the GC podium are, for all intents and purposes, over.
Vos' teammate Riejanne Markus also kept her sixth place overall at 20 seconds, followed by Vollering and Fisher-Black, all at 21 seconds. SD Worx-Protime now is the only team with two riders still in contention for the overall victory, giving them an edge against their rivals.
Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) kept the same time relative to Vollering, Fisher-Black, and Markus, but moved up into the top 10, 28 seconds behind Vos. However, her two teammates Ricarda Bauernfeind and Antonia Niedermaier lost time in the echelons. On the one hand, this gives Niewiadoma undisputed leadership, but on the other hand, it deprives the team of two strong cards to play on the climbs to come.
Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) also stayed in the same position, now 37 seconds behind Vos. Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ) made a massive jump to 15th overall, 1:20 minutes down. The Italian climber had lost contact with her team on the last metres of the opening TTT and lost an additional four seconds there, but her positioning in the echelons put her ahead of many GC rivals and in an excellent position to repeat or even improve upon her 8th place overall from last year.
Movistar Team had Sheyla Gutiérrez taking fifth place on the stage, but their GC cards Olivia Baril and Liane Lippert missed out on the front echelon. Baril is now 2:19 minutes behind, with Lippert four seconds further back.
Évita Muzic, the GC contender for FDJ-SUEZ, is now 2:20 minutes down on the red jersey. Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) also lost valuable time in her home Grand Tour; the Spanish champion is one second behind Muzic.
Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) is now 2:43 minutes behind while Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) sits at 2:59 minutes. Kim Cadzow and Clara Koppenburg (both EF Education-Cannondale) also lost time and may be asked to support Faulkner, but their time loss also gives them a certain freedom if the team wants to continue hunting stage victories.
