Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) secured her first win of the season on stage 2 at Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana.
The powerful Dutch rider got the early jump in the reduced sprint to take the win ahead of Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Liane Lippert (Movistar) in Nules.
Demi Vollering (FDJ-SUEZ) arrived at the finish in fourth place and maintained her lead in the overall classification.
In the final sprint, Lippert started her kick first, but Balsamo and Bredewold were on her wheel and sprinted around her at the last moment with Bredewold taking the win.
"This victory is gratifying. This group of riders had never ridden together before. Then it is extra nice that we take a victory so quickly. I am grateful to them. We were left with three riders. A real lead-out would have cost too much energy. Our plan was that I was dropped in Elisa Balsamo's wheel and Anna van der Breggen and Steffi Häberlin did that perfectly. At 700 metres from the finish, I made a last-minute decision to switch to FDJ's train. That turned out to be the right choice and I get a lot of confidence from that," Bredewold said of the final few hundred metres.
"I'm proud of this decision. Sprinting in this way is still new for me. It was chaotic and I was looking for my own way. I knew my sprint values were good, but it's not just about how many watts you pedal. You have to achieve a result together with your teammates, trust in each other and make the right choices. I managed to stay calm. That is sometimes a working point, so I am happy that I managed to do that today.
"We came here at the start with the climbers' group. That we managed to win a bunch sprint together is extra nice. It's a relief to have that first win in my pocket so early in the season. A similar situation could present itself tomorrow. Just because I beat Elisa Balsamo because of how the sprint unfolded doesn't mean I can do it again tomorrow. If it comes to a sprint again, I will go for it full force. But with Anna van der Breggen, we are also well-placed in the general classification. So we can play with a number of cards."
How it unfolded
The second day of racing at the Setmana Ciclista Volta Femenina de la Comunitat Valenciana was another hilly 134km course from Benicàssim to Nules.
There were two back-to-back climbs just after the halfway point: Alto Les Coronetes (8.1km at 4.4%). and Alto de Salt del Cavall (5.3km at 3.7%).
Eva van Agt (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) broke away from the field just before the intermediate sprint at La Barona, with Chapman taking the points and bonus seconds.
But as the pair reached the slopes of Alto Les Coronetes, Van Agt struggled to hold Chapman's pace. The Australian opened a gap over the top and increased her solo lead to over a minute, as Van Agt was swallowed up by the chasing peloton led by FDJ-SUEZ.
Chapman continued to push on alone and maintained her gap over the second and final climb of the day, Alto de Salt del Cavall. Over the top and along the sweeping descent, Chapman's gap dropped slightly to just under a minute with 40km to go.
Although FDJ-SUEZ were prominent at the front of the field and setting a quick pace to protect their overall race leader, Vollering, other teams like Fenix-Deceuninck and Movistar also moved to the front to help reduce the gap.
However, inside the undulating route toward Nules, Chapman used her time-trialling strengths to her advantage and built her lead back out to 1:30.
As the roads flattened out and the speed of the peloton increased inside the final 10km, the anticipation of a reduced group sprint in the air, Chapman's gap was slashed to just 15 seconds.
Chapman's efforts came to an end with 4km remaining, as the teams with powerful sprinters left in the small field set up for the final kick.
Lidl-Trek and Liv-AlUla-Jayco were the first to lead the field into the final stretch of road until Uno-X Mobility took over in the last kilometre.
As the reduced group barrelled into the final few hundred metres, a perfectly positioned Bredewold launched her sprint off the wheel of Lippert and crossed the line with the win.
Results
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