Racing

Results

Race Results

Scheldeprijs: Lorena Wiebes sprints to fourth straight title

 (Team SD Worx-ProTime) powered to her fourth straight victory at Scheldeprijs, reasserting herself as the undisputed sprint queen of the women’s peloton. 

It was Wiebes' seventh win of the season, following her success at 

Wiebes finished ahead of a noticeably improved 

 (Lidl-Trek) faded towards the finish and could only manage seventh position. 

Known as the unofficial sprinters’ World Championships, the one-day Belgian Classic boasted a selection of the finest sprinters in the current peloton. The day began in wet conditions and dried up later on, but the race was beset with crashes, with several riders having to withdraw due to their injuries.

The expected bunch sprint came to pass and Wiebes once again stamped her authority, ensuring she remains the only ever winner of the women's Scheldeprijs since its introduction in 2021.

"The team did a really good job to chase back the breakaway, and we said up front that I would choose the wheel of Balsamo or Kool, and they both had less [of a] lead-out," Wiebes explained.

"In the end, I ended up in Kool’s wheel and Balsamo started on the left and at that moment I went on the right, so I think it was an honest sprint today."

In wet conditions, 138 women rolled out from Schoten in Belgium, heading for what almost everyone expected to be a race ending in a bunch finish. As such, a selection of strong sprinters were among the riders on the start list, including the undisputed top two in the current bunch: Wiebes and Balsamo. 

With 10 wins between them, Wiebes led Balsamo 2-0 head-to-head in races where the two have finished first, and with a total of just 215 metres of elevation to contend with, barring incident or accident, cycling fans looked forward to another tense battle between the two sprint queens. 

It was Wiebes who was already queen of the race, though, having won all three previous editions, and she looked to continue her domination with a fourth straight victory.

 of VolkerWessels Pro Cycling was the lone breakaway rider; the Dutchwoman bravely struck out after around 50km of racing and found herself alone when no one followed. The peloton held the gap at around 1:30 heading into the finishing circuit around Schoten. 

The 17km circuit would be completed three times, and while things were calm for some time, the cobbles caused a couple of crashes, including a particularly nasty one for Lidl-Trek’s 

With less than 40km remaining, attacks began to launch, breaking up the peloton, with several teams keen to try something to avoid the inevitable bunch finish. Lotto-Dstny’s 

 opened up a gap and began to chase down Dijkstra who still led solo, and AG Insurance-NXTG U23 Team’s 

 also broke free of the bunch as they headed through the finish line once again, with the peloton around a minute behind, though she was later reabsorbed.

Another big crash just under 30km from the finish took out several riders at the back of the bunch, though most were able to remount and continue. With 24km to go, Aintila was finally able to join Dijkstra to make a lead duo, as another crash brought down yet more riders at the rear following a division in the road due to road furniture.

As the bell rang for the final lap, the pace at the front of the bunch increased and the advantage of Dijkstra and Aintila began to diminish rapidly. Yet another collision brought down several riders with 3km to go, but all eyes were on the front of the race as, with 1.5km remaining, the valiant breakaway duo were swallowed up by a charging peloton led by Team SD Worx-ProTime, ready to set up for the final sprint to the line.

Heading into the final 300m, the lead-out trains of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL and UAE Team ADQ were in pole position. As the finish line approached and Charlotte Kool launched her sprint, with Balsamo flanking her to the left, Wiebes popped off of Kool’s wheel and dropped the hammer, surging through to take the win, as Kool finished off a strong effort to come in second, and Balsamo appeared to fade. 

For more of the latest racing results and analysis, visit our 

Tirreno-Adriatico stage 7: Jonathan Milan wins sprint as Jonas Vingegaard confirms GC victory

 (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to victory on the final stage of 

) finished safely in the bunch on the flat stage to seal victory after back-to-back wins in the mountains.

Milan was victorious on stage 7 following a hard-fought final sprint in San Benedetto del Tronto. The Lidl-Trek rider’s explosive power was enough to overcome a brave and well-orchestrated attack from Uno-X Mobility, who tried everything to take the win, first through a long-range effort from Søren Wærenskjold, then a final sprint from Alexander Kristoff, who was able to take second place on the stage. Movistar’s Davide Cimolai completed the top three, with Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen missing out in fourth.

Meanwhile, Visma-Lease a Bike put a cherry on top of their excellent week. Jonas Vingegaard safely completed the course to confirm his dominant win in the overall classification on the same day as 

Matteo Jorgenson sealed the GC win in Paris-Nice

. Vingegaard raised the iconic trident trophy a year after 

 in 2023, marking back-to-back victories in Italy for Visma-Lease a Bike.

 (UAE Team Emirates) secured second overall, whilst 

 (Bora-Hansgrohe) completed the podium in third.

The final stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico took place once again on a loop beginning and ending in San Benedetto del Tronto and concluded with five laps of a flat circuit around the city along the shores of the Adriatic, the second of the race’s ‘two seas’.

With the GC hostilities all but concluded, it would fall to the sprinters and breakaway hopefuls to battle it out for the final honours on the concluding day of the race. A series of early lumps and bumps allowed for the early breakaway to take shape, and once again it featured Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), alongside his teammate Georg Steinhauser, Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers), Damiano Caruso, Antonio Tiberi (both Bahrain-Victorious) and Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco AlUla).

The balance of breakaway versus sprint teams was dealt a series of blows with the abandons of Caleb Ewan overnight and Tim Merlier during the stage. That took the power of Jayco AlUla and Soudal Quick-Step out of the sprint chase, leaving Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek the primary aggressors as they sought to limit the advantage of the six-strong group up the road. And limit they did, with just one minute separating the leaders and the bunch with 75km still to race. Uno-X lent their power to the chase, and the deficit continued to tumble, perhaps closing in too soon with just 20 seconds remaining on the breakaway’s hiding to nothing with 45km still to race. The pace settled with two laps remaining, with the bunch holding the break at arm’s length, at around 30 seconds.

There was trouble for Richard Carapaz, who crashed hard with 23km to go, but the EF Education-EasyPost rider was able to sit up as he was tended to by medical staff.

With 15km to go, the break was reeled back in and the expected sprint looked set to transpire, but moving into the final 10km the GC teams settled the pace, Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale heading up the bunch in support of Ben O’Connor. 

Moving within 5km of the finish, the tensions rose along with the tempo as the teams battled for position heading into the final tricky corners, and with just over 2km remaining, Intermarché-Wanty and Uno-X Mobility were at the head of the pack. Heading under the flamme rouge Astana-Qazaqstan, Movistar and Groupama-FDJ moved up, but Uno-X remained in pole position, and with around 800m remaining Søren Wærenskjold took a flyer and got a gap on the rest.

It was Lidl-Trek giving chase for Milan who rescued the bunch sprint outcome for the fast men, with lead-out Simone Consonni closing down Wærenskjold. He launched Milan with 150m remaining, the Italian unleashing the watts, and powering over the line to take his second stage win of the race and the 

 as winner of the points classification, on what was the fastest-ever stage of Tirreno-Adriatico with an average speed of over 47kph.

Jonas Vingegaard took the overall classification by a margin of 1:24 over his nearest competitor, with Juan Ayuso in second and Jai Hindley rounding out the GC podium, after the Dane dominated the race's hardest stages. 

Tirreno-Adriatico stage 6: Jonas Vingegaard demolishes the opposition again

 (Visma-Lease a Bike) took his second consecutive stage win of 

 on the summit of Monte Petrano to extend his lead in the general classification with one stage remaining.

Despite a valiant attempt from EF Education-EasyPost’s 

, the sole survivor of a strong breakaway group, stage 6 was inevitably headed the way of the Dane, who attacked from a trio comprising the top three on the GC with 6km remaining on the final climb of the day. 

He rode clear with relative ease, once again establishing his position as the undisputed best climber in the Tirreno-Adriatico peloton, becoming champion elect of the race with a flat stage in San Benedetto del Tronto unlikely to rock the GC boat on the final day on Sunday.

 (UAE Team Emirates) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished second and third, to cement their respective positions in the overall standings, with Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) finishing strongly in fourth to move into the same position on GC.

Setting out from Sassoferrato and heading to Cagli, Vingegaard began his first day in the blue leader’s jersey 54 seconds up on GC following his demolition the previous day on stage 5. With a second day in the mountains ahead, and his sights set on a summit finish in the Apennines, it would likely be a case not of whether the Visma-Lease A Bike leader could seal the win, but just how much time he could put into his rivals. 

With Juan Ayuso in second place and a group of four more riders within two minutes, it seemed that the rest of the team leaders would be fighting it out for podium places at best, with a final stage more suited to sprinters ahead of them.

The breakaway that was established after just over 30km of racing was star-studded, including the likes of Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy from EF Education-EasyPost, Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), and Julian Alaphillippe (Soudal-QuickStep), but they were given short shrift by a business-like Visma-Lease A Bike, who set a brisk pace at the front of the peloton and never allowed the escapees more than 2:30.

There were a number of casualties during the day, Team dsm-firmenish PostNL’s Max Poole the worst affected, crashing out and subsequently transported to hospital. Other non-starters included his teammate Romain Bardet, who crashed on the final descent on stage 5, suffering symptoms of concussion, and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility). The rate of attrition continued throughout the day, with Neilson Powless stepping off the bike during the day due to a knee problem.

The gap began to fall under the sustained pace of Steven Kruijswijk and his Visma-Lease A Bike teammates, and by the time 50km remained on the stage, it had been reduced to 1:30. It held steady there as the front group slimmed down to six on the Pian de Trebbio climb, with EF maintaining their numerical advantage, Healy riding in service of Carapaz.

With two climbs remaining, Ineos Grenadiers took up the pace on the front of the bunch, and the gap opened back out to 2:00 as the leaders, now down to a quartet, hit the foot of the punchy climb of Moria. Their number halved again as Healy peeled off, his job done for the day, leaving Carapaz to push on, with only Andreas Leknussund (Uno-X Mobility) able to hold on to his wheel.

A long descent was all that stood between the riders and their final challenge: the 10.2km long Monte Petrano. At the foot of the climb, the gap from Carapaz and Leknussund back to the bunch had tumbled to 1:00, and Carapaz launched clear as the climb began, leaving Leknussund in his wake. 

The GC teams pressed on, bearing down on the Ecuadorian, though the group quickly reduced in number as the GC favourites separated themselves from the rest. The elite group contained the top five on GC along with Ineos Grenadiers’ Tom Pidcock and Thymen Arensman, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe).

It was Bora who went on the offensive first on the climb, Jai Hindley attacking 6.6km from the summit, and only Vingegaard and Ayuso could follow. The trio quickly swallowed up Carapaz and spat him out. 500m later, Vingegaard launched his own attack and quickly snapped the elastic, moving clear just as he did on stage 5, with Ayuso and Hindley admitting defeat and settling into their own pace in a chasing group of two.

With just a couple of kilometres remaining on the climb, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) caught and passed the chasing group, breaking free, with Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) unable to hold on to him. 

Vingegaard won his second stage in dominant fashion, and at the close of the day the top three remain unchanged, with Del Toro making the most gains, moving up to fourth. 

Vingegaard extends his lead to a likely unassailable 1:24, heading to the race finale on Sunday.

News

Race News

Kristen Faulkner competitive at Strade Bianche as she continues on comeback trail

 on Saturday, a year after she was disqualified from the race following the illegal use of a blood glucose monitor. 

Faulkner was active in the final stages of the race, launching attacks and joining a chasing group which included 

 (Canyon-SRAM), doing her best to try to drag them across to the leading pair of 

Though the chasers didn't rejoin the leaders, it was a valiant effort from Faulkner to get back up to the group after initially being distanced, and then put in a lot of work in the chase.

In the end, Faulkner finished in sixth position, her best result at the race, which she rode for the third time in her career.

Strade Bianche: Lotte Kopecky storms to victory ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini

Faulkner was happy with her own race on Saturday, though she was somewhat outspoken about the lack of cohesion in the final chase.

"I was in a tough position because Demi didn’t want to work as she had Lotte up the road, and Kasia, she didn’t want to go full gas with me," Faulkner said at the finish. 

"So I felt like I was doing a lot of the effort, and I really needed her support too if we were going to catch them. I kept trying to encourage her but I think she didn’t want to gas herself too much.

"For me, I was racing for the win so I wanted to catch them, or what’s the point? I wasn’t racing for a podium. So I tried really hard to bridge but I felt like I was alone, and it’s one of those things that’s just really hard to do, if not everyone is into it fully."

Alaskan native Faulkner is still on the road back to her best form following a training crash in May 2023 which kept her out of top level riding for four months. The rider was hit by a car whilst training in California, causing a fracture to her knee, and was unable to return to the peloton until September 2024. 

She claimed her first victory since the 2022 Giro Donne last weekend at the 

, and continue the strong start to the season for her new team. EF have four wins under their belt already in 2024, despite being in their first year and racing at Continental level.

For Faulkner, Saturday's performance was another positive sign at the beginning of her season. 

"I’m pretty happy with how I raced today," she said. "I was positioned well I had a really good lead-out into the final gravel sector, I think overall we raced really well. I’m like a 'go big or go home' type of attitude but overall I’m really happy with my performance and the team performance.’

In 2023, Faulkner was outspoken following her disqualification from Strade Bianche after wearing a continuous blood glucose monitor during the race, the use of which is not allowed in competition.

She finished third in her second appearance at the race, and claimed that the monitor had not been in use during the race itself, though her team at the time, Jayco Alula, accepted the disqualification, accepting that both rider and team were at fault for the error. 

After her podium finish was stricken from the record in 2023, and sixth in Siena is now her official best result in Strade Bianche. 

From Strade Bianche, Faulkner moves onto other Spring Classics including Gent-Wevelgem and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, where she will be expected to be a key player for EF Education-Cannondale as they look to continue as they've started.

A day of explosive action across the Tuscan countryside saw a fourth win in a row for SD Worx-Protime on the white roads of Strade Bianche, and a second for world champion 

The lengthened race saw multiple attacks from last year’s winner 

 (Canyon//SRAM) using the additional gravel sectors to her advantage. 

But despite pressure from Lidl-Trek and Canyon//SRAM, the race-winning move came with 10km to go as Kopecky launched an attack, with only Elisa Longo Borghini able to stay with her.

The leading pair held off pressure from Niewiadoma and Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) and Kopecky sealed the win with an explosive attack on the Via Santa Caterina in which she was able to drop Longo Borghini and power to victory on the Piazzo del Campo.

"We were a bit more in control today. We played it really good as a team. I could have attacked Elisa Longo Borghini earlier but I did it at the right moment I think. I didn't have my best legs today but it's amazing to win Strade Bianche for the second time, especially with the rainbow jersey," the world champion said at the finish.

The characteristic white dust was absent from the Italian 

 as dirt replaced gravel following rain the previous day, but conditions were dry as the women headed south from Siena for the 10th edition of the race.

An attritional start to the race meant that there were no early breaks, but rather a gradual process of thinning out, and over 100km had elapsed in the race before a strong breakaway group of eleven women finally detached from the rest. The group included the likes of European champion Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Neve Bradbury (Canyon//SRAM) and Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek).

Not long after the break formed, Lotte Kopecky launched her first speculative attack on the first passage of the infamous Le Tolfe 

 sector. Her acceleration caused a split in the bunch and a leading group of contenders pulled clear. 

Meanwhile, at the front of the race, a break within a break saw three riders edge clear of the rest – Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease A Bike); Amber Kraak (FDJ-SUEZ) and Alena Amialiusik (UAE Team ADQ). Kraak had already proven her ability to stay away from a powerful chasing group in the UAE and the peloton set to work reeling in the leaders.

SD Worx found themselves one short as Mischa Bredewold came down in a crash and with 30km remaining, the bunch caught up with Deignan and with the veteran Brit at the helm, Lidl-Trek took control of the chase, and caught the trio of escapees with 21.6km to go.

A few kilometres of easement saw the pace drop as the leading teams took a look at one another, but the action all kicked off once again with 18km remaining as Demi Vollering moved clear, with Kasia Niewiadoma the only one able to stick with the Dutch champion’s injection of pace.

From there attack after attack resulted in gaps opening and closing and the lead changing hands several times. Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) tried her luck, but Vollering and Niewiadoma neutralised her before Elisa Longo Borghini flew over the top of and with Marianne Vos following, a leading quartet was formed.

Fenix-Deceuninck took their turn at the front of the race with Christina Schweinberger and Puck Pieterse catching and passing the leaders, but Kristen Faulkner bridged the gap, bringing the rest of the main contenders back in contention.

Heading onto the final gravel sector, Canyon//SRAM showed their hand, with Elise Chabbey launching, then a grimacing Niewiadoma taking over. She split the group to pieces but was unable to drop her main rivals, and with Kopecky now among the leaders, the final selection had been made.

With 10km to Kopecky attacked and Longo Borghini managed to go with her. It was the perfect situation for the Dutch team, with Vollering marking Niewiadoma in the chase, and when Shirin van Anrooij joined the group, the Gravel World champion found herself in a hopeless situation. Faulkner joined the trio and with just over 6km to go, a 20 second gap stood between the Italian and the Belgian, and the chasing group.

The gap held steady despite pressure from Faulkner, and as the leading pair approached the final in Siena the result seemed a foregone conclusion. The race came down to the World Champion and the Italian champion, with Kopecky stamping her authority on a race she has won twice, and finished second in last year to Demi Vollering, who rounded out the 2024 podium, beating Niewiadoma to the line in what was a heartbreaking day for the Polish rider.

Amber Kraak takes her first WorldTour win in sensational style: UAE Women's Tour Stage 4

 secured her first World Tour win in spectacular fashion in Abu Dhabi today, winning from the break to deny SD Worx-Protime the chance to score a 100% success rate in the middle east.

 rider was a part of the day’s early break, and with 8km remaining she attacked the group to move into the solo lead of the race. With the bunch bearing down, Kraak was able to hold her lead despite Lorena Wiebes breathing down her neck as they closed in on the finish line. The final stages of the race were marred by a crash in the bunch just 500m from the line.

It was still a good day out for SD Worx-Protime, with Lotte Kopecky securing the overall victory following her win on yesterday’s Queen stage.


Following an emphatic victory on Jebel Hafeet on stage 3, the Dutch super-team retained the red leader’s jersey through Kopecky, who led the next best rider on GC, Neve Bradbury of Canyon-SRAM, by 13 seconds. Unless something truly unexpected unfolded, the stage was set for another sprint showdown, with Lorena Wiebes seeking a hat-trick of victories.

The final stage in Abu Dhabi was both the shortest and the flattest of the race, with just 105km for the teams to cover before the expected bunch finish on the Abu Dhabi breakwater.

A four-woman breakaway made their move up the road early on in the stage, with little hope of surviving the day. The group comprised Amber Kraak (FDJ-SUEZ), Monica Greenwood (Human Powered Health), Sophie Wright (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Margarita Misyurina (Tashkent City Women PCT), but unlike on the previous day, the escapees were not allowed much rope, gaining a gap of around three minutes which began to be slowly reeled in with around 30km remaining, though it stabilised at 2:00 for a while.

As the riders headed back through the city, the breakaway was reduced to three riders as Misyurina appeared to suffer from cramp, and the remaining trio drove on stoically in the hope of springing a surprise on the bunch, driven by the combined power of SD Worx-Protime and UAE Team ADQ. The gap dropped below a minute, and with 7 kilometres to go, Amber Kraak launched a bold attack, immediately distancing one of her breakaway companions Monica Greenwood, though Sophie Wright was able to stay in touch for a further two kilometres before Kraak kicked again and moved clear.

With 4 kilometres remaining to the finish line, the gap steadied and held at 40 seconds, and with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL and Uno-X adding firepower to the chase, the result hung in the balance.

In an almost carbon copy of her late attack on stage one, Fenix-Deceuninck’s Carina Shrempf took a flyer under the flamme rouge, and though she was able to eke out a small gap she was closed down by the peloton in the final stages. Meanwhile, a crash within the bunch brought down a number of riders including third placed GC rider Mavi Garcia of Liv-Alula-Jayco.

At the front of the race, Kraak moved into her drops with 300m to go and drove full gas for the line, with the looming bunch closing in rapidly, but though Lorena Wiebes was in full flow Kraak had enough breathing room to throw her bike over the line and take her first career win, to the delight of her team. The French side have been active in the breakaway throughout the race and they will take great encouragement from the victory, as will the rest of the peloton, as the challenge for the women’s bunch in 2024 will once again be how to find a way around SD Worx-Protime. For today, Amber Kraak can say that she was able to do just that.

UAE Tour Women: Lotte Kopecky takes summit sprint on Jebel Hafeet to win stage 3

) claimed the first mountaintop victory of her career, and threw down a gauntlet to the rest of the women’s peloton as she took a commanding lead in the overall classification at the 

 and SD Worx-Protime played out on the lower slopes of Jebel Hafeet, with last year’s runner up 

 initiating the attack that drew an elite group away from the rest of the bunch, but when 

 attacked with just under three kilometres remaining, only Kopecky was able to answer.

The Belgian all-rounder proved that her incredible ride on the Col du Tourmalet in last year’s 

 was no fluke, and that her climbing prowess can now rival the best in the bunch. She caught Bradbury with 800 metres remaining and was able to cruise to her first victory of the 2024 season.

"I think it's the first [mountaintop win] ever! Yeh, crazy," said a delighted Kopecky after the finish. "I was really motivated for this stage and I wanted to see how far I could go on this climb, but of course I wanted this and I dreamed, or hoped really. To win the stage, it was in my mind, but to also do it is very good for the confidence.

"I went kilometre by kilometre because I know on this climb, your legs always hurt and in 30 seconds it can go from having a good rhythm to blowing up. When the Canyon girl went, there was a little bit of panic, but I could go and I could find my rhythm. Once I felt that I came closer again, I was kind of confident that I could make it."

Kopecky braves a canny attack from Neve Bradbury 

Heading into the day, just a handful of seconds separated the main GC hopefuls, following the two preceding flat stages, with Lotte Kopecky leading the charge, five seconds ahead of the majority of the rest of the GC favourites. However, with the challenge ahead of them, any gaps could quickly be overturned.

SD Worx-Protime had dominated the first two days of the race, with World Champion Kopecky leading 

 out to victory twice, and with her fast finishes giving her the edge in the overall, it was no secret that the Belgian was also in the hunt for the GC title. 

The peloton began their day in the city of Al Ain, before heading out once more onto the exposed Middle Eastern roads. After an initial solo fray by Marie Le Net (FDJ-SUEZ), a breakaway trio established itself, comprising Linda Zanetti (Human Powered Health), Gladys Verhulst Wild (FDJ-SUEZ) and Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi). The three amassed a significant lead over the rest of the bunch, with more than 6:15 of an advantage at one point, before the gap steadied as the bunch settled into a rhythm across the broad expanse of the Emirati desert.

With around 25km to go, the pace picked up as the pack began chasing down the leaders in earnest, with Lidl-Trek, SD Worx-Protime and Fenix-Deceuninck sharing the duties at the front of the bunch. There were a couple of crashes towards the rear of the peloton, affecting a number of riders including Claire Steels of Movistar, the second spill for the British GC hopeful in the race so far.

The singular climbing challenge of the race was Jebel Hafeet. An ascent of 10.8km averaging out at a gradient of 6.6%, the gap tumbled as the foot of the slope approached, and when the breakaway hit the climb they nursed just 2:40 of their gap to rest of the peloton, as Liv Alula Jayco added their firepower to the chase.

As the slope kicked up, two of the breakaway dropped away, leaving Verhulst Wild to push on solo, and the peloton thinned out immediately after the climbing began, with Wiebes drilling the pace on the front in service of her teammate. A group of just under 30 riders remained with 8km left to ride, and it was on the steeper sections of slope that last year’s runner-up Gaia Realini began to drive on, distancing all but five other riders, and bringing Kopecky with her.

Verhulst Wild’s day was done with 7km to go as the rampaging group of GC hopefuls closed her down and passed her at a rate of knots. The group of six became five as Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) lost touch under the robust pace of Mavi García (Liv Alula Jayco), followed by 19-year-old Marion Bunel of St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93 as the distance to the summit dropped below 4.5km.

García was content to hold her position on the front of the quartet but with all four riders comfortable the tempo eased off, and it was only a matter of time until someone took the initiative. It was Australian Neve Bradbury of Canyon-SRAM who struck first with 2.7 kilometres to go, and just 500 metres later, Lotte Kopecky put in an injection of pace that Realini could not match. Though García was able to hold onto Kopecky's wheel for a short distance, it soon became clear that the stage win and the GC lead would come down to a head-to-head between Bradbury and the world champion.

As the road dropped down, Kopecky powered on in pursuit of Bradbury, finally closing her down with just 800 metres of road remaining, and the odds were stacked against Bradbury from then on, with the road flattening out towards the summit. One final burst of acceleration was enough to distance the Australian in sight of the line, as Kopecky raised her arms to take the win and continue SD Worx-Protime’s unbeaten run at the race.

All-American victory at Volta a la Comunitat Valencia as Brandon McNulty takes overall

The Volta a la Comunitat Valencia concluded today after five stages of action with a stunning solo breakaway victory for Movistar’s 

. The American took his first pro win following a faultless 50km solo ride, having been a part of the day’s early break.

Barta’s win was the icing on the cake on a great day for American cycling, with UAE Team Emirates’ 

 securing the overall win after his victory on the Queen stage yesterday.

The breakaway took two wins out of five in Valencia, bookending the race with surprise victories, as Barta held strong in the face of first the GC teams, then the encroaching sprint teams, winning by a margin of just 8 seconds. 

, in the orange points jersey, won the bunch sprint behind.

Beginning inland in Bétera, and returning south to the Costa Blanca for the conclusion of the race, the final act was a short, sharp 93km stage finishing in the race’s home city of Valencia.

Following his victory on stage 4, McNulty took control of the yellow leader’s jersey, and with a flat finish it would be very difficult for the other GC teams to make an impact. However, with a margin of only 14 seconds to second-placed 

 and just three more to Aleksandr Vlasov, there were no guarantees that UAE’s day defending their lead would go their way. Bahrain Victorious and BORA Hansgrohe both had two riders in the top 5, and with a first category climb looming on which to make a difference, some strong attacking could potentially have an impact.

With less than 100km to cover, it didn’t take long for a breakaway to become established. A group of five riders separated themselves from the bunch, and the quintet had nationality in common, featuring four Spaniards riding for pro continental teams and one World Tour rider, American Will Barta, riding for a Spanish team, Movistar. The fiesta was crashed shortly after by Italian 

 (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) to make it six riders, and the group moved out to three minutes clear of the peloton as the route traversed the first categorised climb of the day.

The category 1 Puerto de la La Frontera climb bisected the day’s route, and with 5km of ascent at an average gradient of 9.3%, it offered the opportunity for attacks. Will Barta took the opportunity to strike out alone in search of a long-range solo victory, with just over 50km still to ride.

Back in the bunch, BORA hansgrohe took control of the chase in the hopes of pushing the pace and putting McNulty into difficulties, but it seemed a futile endeavour, as the American sat comfortably on the wheel of the German team. Vlasov tried an attack but it was a short-lived, with McNulty and Buitrago neutralising, and with a small bunch of GC riders moving ahead of the rest, the gap to the lone leader Barta steadied at just under 1.30.

Bahrain-Victorious were next to try their luck with 

 briefly gapping the rest but once again he was kept on a tight leash by McNulty and the rest of the GC group, and as they crested the summit of La Frontera, it seemed to be a stalemate situation, with the questions remaining: could the leaders catch Barta, and could the dropped teams – led by a determined Lidl-Trek team riding for Jonathan Milan – catch the GC group to force a sprint finish?

With around 20km of descent to cover, it was unsurprising that 

 once again came to the fore, followed bravely by Movistar’s Spanish champion 

, but with 30km remaining UAE once again took control, chasing down Barta who defended a 45 second lead. This gradually diminished as the kilometres ticked down and with the second peloton bridging the gap to the group of GC favourites, it looked likely to spell disaster for Barta’s hopes of a breakaway victory, and all but guaranteed the day would conclude with a bunch sprint.

But Barta held off the onslaught from Lidl-Trek and Euskaltel-Euskadi, maintaining a fragile gap of around 17 seconds for kilometre after kilometre as the race approached Valencia. With Caja Rural adding their support and the GC teams in close order, the gap dropped to 11 seconds at one point, before the technical twists and turns of the streets of Valencia, combined with clever disruption tactics from Barta’s teammate Lazkano, stymied the chase.

It was to prove decisive, as though the sprint hopefuls bore down on him, Barta was able to remain clear of the pack and raise his arms for the first time in his professional career, to the delight of his team.


Volta Valenciana: Brandon McNulty wins summit finish on shortened stage 4

 (UAE Team Emirates) secured an impressive solo victory on the summit of the Alto de Miserat on stage 4 of the 

, taking the lead in the general classification in the process.

After a week of near misses at the Challenge Mallorca, the American made good on his strong early-season form, putting in a dominant performance on the punishing slopes of the category 1 climb. 

McNulty pulled clear of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) to finish eight seconds ahead.

Earlier in the day, a shadow was cast over the race following a fatality. An amateur cyclist tragically lost their life in an incident near the finish line, causing the race to be shortened by around 15km, with the summit of the Miserat climb serving as the new finish in place of the original destination of La Vall d'Ebo.

Stage 4 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana began in the coastal town of Teulada before heading inland, originally scheduled to cover a route of 175km on the way to the race’s only uphill finish in La Vall d'Ebo.

The Queen stage of the race, it was set to prove decisive in the battle for the overall win. Ahead of the stage, the situation in the general classification was finely poised, with stage 1 breakaway king Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) continuing to enjoy a lead of 1.08 over second placed rider, and stage 2 winner, Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious). 

With Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) and Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) withdrawing from the race, it seemed likely to come down to a head-to-head battle between Bora-Hansgrohe and Bahrain Victorious for the GC, though UAE Team Emirates still harboured hopes with McNulty.

With Mohorič suggesting prior to the race that there was a little too much climbing for him to be a serious contender for GC, it looked likely that Bahrain would ride for Colombian Buitrago, who started the day in fourth position, one of a sizeable group of 27 riders who all found
themselves within two minutes of the leader’s time.

The day started with an attritional battle to form the breakaway, which remained unresolved after over 40km of racing as the peloton hit the first categorised ascent of the day. With 45km under their belts, a group of seven riders was finally able to distance itself from the bunch and they were allowed their freedom, with the gap quickly opening up to just over a minute. 

With some riders among the seven within a minute of the main GC favourites, the gap remained narrow, with a nervous bunch of GC teams keen to avoid a repeat of stage 1 where they wildly miscalculated their chase and allowed the break to run away with the win.

The race maintained a steady state for the next 100km or so, with the breakaway 2:20 ahead of the peloton and Bora-Hansgrohe doing the lion’s share of the work heading into the day’s main challenge, the category-1 Alto de Miserat. 

With 35km to go, the breakaway’s advantage had diminished to 1.20, when the news broke on race radio that due to a fatality near the finish line, the race would be shortened. The gap plummeted after that, with the GC teams preparing to go to work, and as they hit the foot of the climb, the bunch was compact once more.

Initially, Bora-Hansgrohe set the pace on behalf of Vlasov, with the yellow jersey rapidly losing touch at the back of the bunch. McNulty was the first to attack, drawing Vlasov, Buitrago and Team Jayco-AlUla’s Welay Berhe with him. 

Both Buitrago and Vlasov put in speculative attacks, dropping Berhe but neutralising one another, and with just two seconds separating the three riders, they ground their way up the punishing gradients of the Miserat with nothing to separate them.

The stalemate broke as McNulty attacked again on the flatter section, using his speed to open out a small gap which lengthened to around 10 seconds heading into the formidable final kilometre of the ascent. 

He maintained a high cadence and Vlasov and Buitrago were unable to close him down, Vlasov continuing his streak of podium finishes, and all three putting themselves in contention for the final day of action on stage 5, where the GC will be settled on a short stage of just 93km.

Katy Madgwick

Analysis

SD Worx return to dominance with incredible 100% Itzulia Women record

The race may only have existed for three years, but with nine stages and three general classifications up for grabs, the odds of one team sweeping the board at 

 would on paper seem just as unlikely as it would at any other stage race. Yet as 

 crossed the line and raised her arms in Donostia on Sunday, 

 were able to claim just such an astounding record. 

In the three editions of the race that have been run since its inaugural edition in 2022, the Dutch team have won every stage, and taken top honours with three overall victories: Demi Vollering in 2022 and Marlen Reusser in 2023. 

This year, European champion Mischa Bredewold was victorious on stages 1 and 2, and though she couldn’t go with her teammate on the final climb, she did enough to secure second place on the overall podium to add to the team’s achievements. 

It’s a record which almost defies belief, until you consider the team who have managed the feat, and, moreover, the woman who took the top step of the podium twice at the end of Sunday's stage in the Basque Country. 

Vollering’s record at the race is in itself unrivalled. The Dutch national champion has won six of a possible nine stages, and two of the three overall classifications, in three years. That's two thirds of the available victories garnered by the reigning Tour de France Femmes and Vuelta Femenina champion – undeniably impressive.

Itzulia Women: Demi Vollering solos to stage win and overall title on final day

Last season, the narrative around the dominance of Team SD Worx was unequivocal; they were the best team in the women’s peloton, without a shadow of a doubt. They contained within their number the world’s best stage racer, Classics rider, time triallist and sprinter, and a deluxe support team, all of whom were capable of winning in their own right.

The results proved it, with win after win, in the Classics and in stage races, both at World Tour level and less high profile races. And not just wins – one-twos or even full podiums, as the team who had everything greedily gathered up honours and left very little for the rest. 

This season was expected to continue in the same vein. At the UAE Tour in February, World Champion Lotte Kopecky set the tone in the team’s first outing of the year, underscoring her all-around potential by winning the GC following a commanding climbing performance on Jebel Hafeet. 

However, the spring didn't quite follow that script. With rumours of top riders leaving and question marks over leadership, there was a sense of uncertainty surrounding the team’s Classics campaign, and despite Kopecky’s success at Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix, Vollering was unable to add any wins to her considerable palmarès. 

The mixed results spoke for themselves. 2024 was not going to be all about Team SD Worx-ProTime; the rest of the women’s peloton had their number.

Then came La Vuelta Femenina, and a shift of focus from one-day racing to stage racing, and the first Grand Tour of the season. By stage 5 and the final ascent into Jaca, it was clear Vollering was back. In case there was any doubt about it, she followed up with a second stage win on the race’s massive final mountain stage to Vasdequi to seal the general classification by a huge 1:49, going one better than her 2023 result in which she missed out by just 9 seconds to Annemiek van Vleuten.

With such commanding performances, Vollering has proven beyond a doubt that she is very much back to her best form ahead of a summer which will include a defence of her Tour de France Femmes. 

Despite suffering with stomach issues for the past two days in the Basque Country, Vollering acknowledged after the race that even if she had been unable to complete the job, they had last year’s winner Marlen Reusser along with other riders to take up the mantle and perform for the team. 

It spoke to the confidence the collective have in one another, and their belief in their ability to win in a variety of circumstances. Vollering also commented on the team’s flawless record at the race. 

“To win every stage til now, three years in a row, that’s incredible actually, three times is history I think,” Vollering said. “We can be very proud of this. You never think that you can do something like this, but to do it again, to win all the stages here, that’s incredible. 

“It says something about how strong a team we are, and also how much we like these kinds of races, to be always very active and take it in our own hands. I’m really proud to finish it off here.” 

With their continued imperious hold over Itzulia Women, following on a week after their dominance of La Vuelta, once again the onus falls on the other Women’s WorldTour teams to find an answer to the question posed by Team SD Worx – can they be beaten? And if so, how? 

Given Vollering’s ability to forge ahead even when by her own admission she was not feeling 100%, the answer currently looks to be: nothing.

 (Team SD Worx-Protime) sealed a spectacular solo victory on the third and final stage of 

, attacking on the final climb of the day and time trialling her way to the win in Donostia. 

Vollering ensured a continuation of SD Worx’s 100% record at the race, with the team having won every stage of the race in the three years since its inception in 2022.

With the stage win came victory in the general classification, as Vollering deposed her teammate 

Katy is a freelance writer and broadcaster specialised in professional cycling