Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) repeated her success from stage 1 of Itzulia Women, winning stage 2 from a group of three that formed in the finale of the stage. Mavi García (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) finished second while Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) took third.
Bredewold and García bridged across to Labous who had attacked with 12km to go, and as Labous and García worked hard to maximise their GC time gain, Bredewold could sit on their wheels.
Labous led the trio onto the uphill finish in Basauri where García took the lead 300 metres from the line, but Bredewold jumped from the Spanish champion’s wheel in the last 150 metres to take the stage and continue her team’s 100% record with eight stage wins out of eight possible in the Basque race.
“This is really unexpected and crazy. They say, once you’re in a good flow, you’re in, and I guess that’s true. I really did not expect this today. The team was so good and super attentive, and we all make each other calm because we’re always there. Blanka [Vas] and Marie [Schreiber] did amazing work,” said Bredewold who thanked her teammates after the finish.
“I could not hold on with the best riders, but that’s actually what I expected before. It was still so long to the finish, so everything came back. We tried to attack, Juliette went first, and later, I could jump. The cooperation was really good, and they are really strong climbers, so I knew that I had to be careful, so I gambled a bit,” she said, referring to the Urruztigaina climb where she lost contact with the best before coming back and attacking in the final.
“The gap was really small in the end, we have to discuss it. Again, I want to race openly, and if the other girls see a chance, it’s nice for them to do something. I am feeling really good, that’s nice.”
Bredewold leads the GC with 14 seconds advantage to Labous and 15 seconds to García.
More to come…
Results
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