06.05.2025 World-Tour, News, Race news

AMID THE MAYHEM, A DOUBLE TOP-10 AT LA VUELTA

Stage two of La Vuelta Femenina, the first road race stage, was marred by misfortune, with three CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto riders caught in a crash just 15 kilometres from the finish. Spirits heading into stage three were dampened, but not extinguished. The setback was felt most deeply by general classification hopeful Neve Bradbury, who has had La Vuelta in her crosshairs since the season began. Despite the best efforts of Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, Justyna Czapla, and Nastya Kolesava, Neve was unable to rejoin the peloton and conceded over two minutes to the front group.

With five days still ahead and hope pinned on the mountainous back-end of this year’s arduous La Vuelta parcours, the team reset for what was a restless and stressful 132km. The stage opened with twisting, technical, and rain-slicked roads from Barbastro through the foothills of the Sierra de Guara, before giving way to the exposed flats of the Plana de Huesca.

Though several groups of riders were distanced in the final 35km due to pressure from motivated teams, conditions weren’t severe enough to irreversibly split the race, and the peloton regrouped inside the final 15km.

After strong positioning work from Justyna and Nastya in the closing kilometres, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Agnieszka stayed near the front and avoided the crash carnage as the race skirted around the town of Huesca. The pair sprinted to 8th and 10th respectively from a stretched-out and reduced bunch after the final corner.

It wasn’t a finish that played to Kasia’s strongest physical attributes, but her sharp race instincts and ability to navigate chaos shone through once again – mirroring her 8th place from stage two under similarly wild conditions. As she explains, her main role was to lead out Agnieszka, but races rarely follow the script. Regardless, she underlined her value in lead-out roles for the stages still to come, and the prospects are looking bright for when the two Polish powerhouses can combine forces cohesively.

Here’s what the team had to say about today’s pressured and unyielding stage, as focus shifts to what tomorrow’s stage may bring and the ongoing effort to rebuild spirits after mentally taxing opening days.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney

“Sometimes in stage races you have more nervous and harder races, and that’s what happened today. Everyone was waiting for echelon action to start, and yet the wind wasn’t strong enough. In the last 20km we had cross-headwind, and it was super hectic – just a constant washing machine. We tried to stay together, but it was so hard, I feel like for everyone. Then, in the final, we were really committed to go for Agnieszka, and it was really nice to see from her this super-fighting spirit. She wasn’t afraid to smash the corners, but unfortunately in the last part, she got ridden off my wheel while I was waiting for her to pass me. She was still fighting though, so that was great.”

Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka

“Everyone was fighting for the first right corner, and that was all about positioning. I was in a good position with Kasia, but then I lost my speed in the roundabout with 700m to go because of one rider, and then it was really hard to come back together before the last corner to the right.”

Justyna Czapla

“Stage 2 was really good for me. I had great legs and was almost always at the front, able to lead the team and bring everyone into position. I was really happy with yesterday. Today, I found it a bit harder to position myself in the peloton, but I still tried my best to stay near the front and support the team. Today we also had some echelons, and it was really tough. At one point, I got dropped with Neve, and we were in the group behind. Fortunately, we managed to get back. In the end, we gave everything to prepare a good sprint for Aga, and I think we can be happy with the result. As for the crash today, with two kilometers to go, I don’t know exactly what happened, but I just went into the girls who were already on the ground and then fell on my elbow again. It’s open, but it’s just my elbow and it’s not too bad. All good. As for tomorrow, I’m actually feeling better than expected, I still have good legs and I’m really excited for the next stages.”

HOW TO FOLLOW

Live coverage is available on RTVE (Spain), Eurosport/ Discovery Plus, TNT Sports, FloBikes (Canada), SBS (Australia), and other national broadcasters. Follow the race each day on X using #LaVueltaFemenina and #UCIWWT, and stay updated with CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto via our social channels.

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