La Vuelta Femenina: Alison Jackson wins stage 2 sprint after crash-marred finale
Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) won stage 2 of the Vuelta Femenina in a sprint of those who survived a crash-marred final, beating Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime) and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ). Having taken bonus seconds at the finish and the intermediate sprint, Vas is the new overall leader.
A breakaway of six was reeled in on the only classified climb of the day, the Puerto de L’Oronet and only 45 riders crested the climb together. Charlotte Kool (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) was the most prominent sprinter among the dropped riders, and the remaining 38km turned into a pursuit.
Kool’s group had come within 20 seconds of the peloton at the five-kilometre mark, but the wet roads and roundabouts caused several crashes in the last three kilometres, and it was a reduced peloton that sprinted for the victory with Jackson taking the win.
“I came in with a real fire to win this. My teammates took care of me right from the beginning to the finish,” said Jackson, already having celebrated the stage win with her trademark dance moves after the finish.
“When the crashes were happening, I kept being safe, playing it smart, and in the final, the group caught the four of us that made it through the crashes first. My teammate Kristen [Faulkner] was there and went full gas at 500 [metres]. She is so strong, I knew that no one would be able to come around. I got to choose my sprint when I wanted, and it’s unbelievable to come away with the win.
“I had a bit of a disappointing spring, but you can only control what you can control. The team has really been coming together more and more, and coming into the Vuelta I was going to do anything it took to get this win. The team believed in me, from staff to riders, and I totally took that to heart. To have a win in the Vuelta is just another great thing to put on the resumé,” Jackson finished.
Alison Jackson (EF Education Cannondale) wins stage 2 of La Vuelta Femenina
How it unfolded
Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Angela Oro (BePink-Bongioanni), and Marione Allione (Winspace) attacked early in the 118.3-kilometre stage. They were joined by Audrey De Keersmaeker (Lotto Dstny Ladies), Valerie Demey (VolkerWessels), and Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health) after a 15-kilometre chase and built an advantage of three minutes.
Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL controlled the gap and, with the help of other teams, gradually brought it down to 39 seconds with 45km to go, just before the Puerto de L’Oronet climb officially started.
Eraso attacked from the breakaway – which earned her the combativity prize – but was quickly caught again, and the whole group was soon brought back as Movistar and Visma-Lease a Bike took charge of the peloton, wanting to drop the pure sprinters on the 5.9km climb.
Swinkels was first at the top and will wear the polka-dot jersey on stage 3, and Lidl-Trek guided red jersey Gaia Realini down the descent while Kool was among the dropped riders, over two minutes down.
Anneke Dijkstra (VolkerWessels) attacked from the peloton to win the intermediate sprint. Vas was second to grab four bonus seconds and become the virtual race leader.
13km from the finish, Kool’s group had reduced the gap to 45 seconds, with Movistar Team, Visma-Lease a Bike, Liv-AlUla-Jayco, and EF Education-Cannondale working in the peloton to keep the Dutch sprinter away.
Just inside the three-kilometre mark, a crash took down seven riders including Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mischa Bredewold, Niamh Fisher Black (both SD Worx-Protime), Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek), and another seven riders including Emma Norsgaard, Liane Lippert (both Movistar Team), and Georgia Baker (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) were involved in a crash in a roundabout with 2.3km to go that caused a split in the peloton.
Jelena Erić (Movistar Team) was suddenly all alone in front, followed by Flora Perkins, Yara Kastelijn (both Fenix-Deceuninck), Silke Smulders (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Jackson, and Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL). The peloton came back just before the flamme rouge, and Faulkner led out Jackson to win the sprint.
Due to the stage win, the Canadian champion will wear the green points jersey on stage 3 and also moved up to second overall, eight seconds behind Vas.
Results
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