Stage 4, May 4, 2023 Cuenca -> Guadalajara
Landscape switch in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es with the 4th stage between Cuenca and Guadalajara, a hilly day to change the tone after a fast team time trial and two flat stages. Attacks happened left and right for everything to come down to a sprint between a reduced bunch of 28 riders. Red jersey wearer Marianne Vos put yet another excellent performance to claim her second straight victory ahead of Movistar Team’s Emma Norsgaard and SD Worx’s Marlen Reusser. Tomorrow’s challenge will be even bigger for the Jumbo-Visma rider and her team, as the stage from La Cabrera to the Mirador de Peñas Llanas in Riaza is a proper mid-mountain one – with an uphill finish!
152 riders took the start in the 4th stage of La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es, which covered 133,1 kilometres between Cuenca and Guadalajara, at 13:32. It was a nervous start, with many attacks and some crashes which affected star riders like Red jersey wearer Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) or Demi Vollering (SD Worx). It was 40 kilometres into the stage that Maryna Varenyk (Eneicat – CMTeam) and Patricia Ortega (Massi – Tactic) managed to jump clear from the pack, with Anna Kiesenhofer (Israel PremierTech – Roland) and Tota Magalhaes (Bizkaia – Durango) joining their effort shortly after to establish a 4-woman breakaway.
An Olympic champion in the break
Jumbo-Visma took the helm of the bunch as Bepink’s Nora Jencusova undertook a solo chase that would prove fruitless after 25 kilometres. The advantage of the four attackers escalated up to 3’50”, clocked at kilometer 63. From then on, the work of the Dutch team started to pay off as the bunch slowly closed in to the break. Varenyk got dropped from the front group in the climb out of Sacedón (km 78), while on the descent it was Magalhaes who took off for a solo ride at the front. With 48 kilometres to go, the Brazilian rider had a 15” gap on Kiesenhofer and Ortega, and 1’15” on the peloton. Eneicat’s Andrea Alzate would eventually attack and help Kiesenhofer link back to Magalhaes, yet the resulting leading trio would be short-lived as several attacks spurred the pack to reel them in with 37 kilometres left to race.
Many attacks up and down the final climb
Once the day’s breakaway was over, Georgia Williams (EF Education – Tibco – SVB) put a strong acceleration that was followed by Aranza Villalon (Eneicat – CM Team) to create a duo at the front. This enabled Villalon to lead the race through Tendilla (IS, km 106). They would be caught at the base of the climb to the Alto de Horche (cat 3, km 121), where riders like SD Worx’s Femke Markus or Liv Racing’s Mavi Garcia attacked while Canyon//SRAM’s Elise Chabbey was first at the summit. On the way down to Guadalajara, stars like Van Vleuten or Vollering attacked to further shake the race up, yet 28 riders made it together to the final kilometer. An acceleration from SD Worx’s Marlen Reusser didn’t avoid Vos second stage win in La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es.
STAGE 4 RESULT
- Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma) in 3h26’24’’
- Emma Norsgaard (Movistar Team Women) at 0’’
- Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) at 0’’
GC
- Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma) in 9h52’58’’
- Chloe Dygert (Canyon//SRAM Racing) at 25’’
- Riejanne Markus (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 26’’
