Mischa Bredewold pipped her SD Worx-Protime team-mate Lotte Kopecky on the line in the sprint to win stage five of the Vuelta Femenina.
It looked as if Kopecky might bag herself another stage victory but her body language showed she was keen to give her team-mate Bredewold – a key part in her leadout – a win of her own.
A big crash in the final kilometre hampered proceedings, with Liv AlUla Jayco and Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto riders coming down. An earlier crash victim, Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco), managed to come back to the bunch and finish third for the second day in a row, despite a painful wrist.
"We had a luxury position today with the red jersey," said Bredewold after the race. "And I’m just so grateful for the team that they had the freedom to share my ambitions about sprinting.
"We made this dream, ideal plan to do it like this, that I get the freedom to sprint with Lotte in my wheel, and she would come over if she had to. We said before, it was the dream scenario. If I had to I would do the lead-out, but it wasn’t necessary and I’m super happy to get the victory."
Bredewold was also asked about the crash – in which her team-mate Anna van der Breggen was also involved. She said: "It was a really hectic final run in – the last 5k all those big roads were pretty crazy. Anna is OK, I saw her and she was not too bad. I hope the other girls are OK."
Of stage six tomorrow, which features a category-one summit finish at Les Praeres Nava, she said the team were ready: "We’re really ready with Anna, she’s in super good condition. It doesn’t look like this crash will affect her, I hope. We’re very ready to fight for it."
The stage, which took riders on a 119km trip from Léon to Astorga, always looked as though it would end in a sprint. There were two categorised climbs, both cat-three, placed at one third and two-thirds through the race, but a 45km 'home stretch' left plenty of time for the sprinters and their teams to get organised.
The day's break went well before either, with Marina Garau (Vini Fantini-BePink), Sara Martín (Movistar), Alice Coutinho (Mayenne Monbana My Pie), Aniek Van Alphen (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) forming a five-rider move after 20km.
The break survived largely intact over the two climbs, with Garau tailed off on the second of the pair. Coutinho did not last much longer, although the surviving trio held on until 8.5km to go.
Liv AlUla Jayco for Paternoster and Movistar for Liane Lippert looked strong during a five kilometre run-in on big roads, but it was ultimately SD Worx-Protime who comfortably prevailed.
Results
Vuelta Femenina stage 5: Léon > Astorga, 119.6km
1. Mischa Bredewold (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, in 2:54:07
2. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime
3. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv AlUla Jayco
4. Agnieszka Skalniak Sójka (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
5. Shari Bossuyt (Bel) AG Insurance-Soudal
6. Megan Jastrab (USA) UAE Team ADQ
7. Franziska Koch (Ger) FDJ United-SUEZ
8. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
9. Loes Adegeest (Ned) Lidl-Trek
10. Silvia Zanardia (Ita) HPH, all at same time
General Classification after stage 5
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel), SD Worx-Protime, in 15:04:47
2. Franziska Koch (Ger), FDJ United-SUEZ, +12s
3. Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra), EF Education-Oatly, +18s
4. Mischa Bredewold (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +22s
5. Anna van der Breggen, SD Worx-Protime, +26s
6. Sarah van Dam (Can), Visma-Lease a Bike, +28s
7. Évita Muzic (Fra), FDJ United-SUEZ, at s.t.
8. Loes Adegeest (Ned), Lidl-Trek, +30s
9. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, +32s
10. Liane Lippert (Ger), Movistar, at s.t.
