It should have been one of the most comfortable stages of this Vuelta Femininaand instead it turns out to be a watershed in the Spanish race. Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Easypost) wins alone in Zaragoza, in a stage conditioned above all by the fans who have largely redesigned the general classification, with Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike) becomes the new leader at the halfway point ahead of Blanka Kata Vas (SD Worx).
There are a couple of fairly impromptu attacks at the start of the match, but as mentioned it is the lateral wind to become the protagonist, with a speed of over 30 kilometers per hour. Thanks to the fans, a group of around twenty athletes benefit, including ours Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) together with Demi Vollering (SD Worx), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon / Sram), Marianne Vos and Kata Blanka Vas.
All the others, including ours Gaia Realini (Lidl-Trek) instead they remain overwhelmed by the action and lose constantly, until they touch the two minute deficit. A margin that will never be filled again until the finale. Marianne Vos was first in the Santa Fe intermediate sprint, gaining two seconds on Vas, but the race started -7 from the finish line, on a short section on a 7% counterslope.
I am Kristen Faulkner and Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) to try to attack, the American manages to shake off the Swiss and then manages to resist her opponents, with Niewiadoma, Vas, Longo Borghini and Vollering attempting a timid sortie. Faulkner manages to resist and arrives alone, with 10″ ahead of Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Marianne Vos, who with these other four seconds of bonus manages to overtake Blanka Vas.
