Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) easily won stage 7 of La Vuelta Femenina ahead of Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek).
“We really wanted to go for the stage win today, that’s the reason why the team controlled [it]. And of course, when they do so much work, you want to [win] it,” said Vos afterwards.
“Reijanne Markus and me were in this final break when the echelon started,” explained Vos. “That was a good situation, but of course also a little bit hard to control. It was a little bit stressful but then when we entered the final kilometer we just tried to stay in the best possible position and go for it.”
It was an exceptionally fast and windy start, with attacks right from the beginning. Eight riders broke away for about 20 km before the peloton absorbed them again. Then, seven more riders immediately attacked and got away. This group of seven formed the lead group until 65 km to go, when they were absorbed by the peloton.
Over the next 65 km, riders attempted to break away but the headwind was too strong and the peloton was able to reabsorb riders. In the final kilometers there was jockeying for position and some attacks were made, but these too were neutralized.
In the final 500 meter climb everybody was fighting for position. Allison Jackson was the first to go, leading teammate Faulkner up the climb. It looked like Faulkner might take another victory, but Vos accelerated and passed her with a burst of speed, and by the time she reached the line she had several bike lengths.
Stage 7 Results
1. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:27:56
2. Kristen Faulkner (USA) EF Education-Cannondale, +2s
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
5. Ingvild Gåskjenn (Nor) Liv AlUla Jayco
6. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) SD Worx-Protime
7. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike
8. Évita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-Suez, all at same time
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, +8s
10. Eline Jansen (Ned) VolkerWessels, +10s
General Classification Stage 7
1. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 20:47:59
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +52s
3. Riejanne Markus (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:14
4. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL. +1:48
5. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) SD Worx-Protime, +2:16
6. Évita Muzic (Fra) FDJ-Suez, +2:42
7. Kristen Faulkner (USA) EF Education-Cannondale, +3:23
8. Marlen Reusser (Sui) SD Worx-Protime, +3:24
9. Ricarda Bauerfind (Ger) Canyon-SRAM, +3:27
10. Yara Kastelijn (Ned) Fenix-Deceuninck, + 4:07
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/ceratzit-challenge-by-la-vuelta/2024/stage-7
