Elise Chabbey’s 2021 season hasn’t seen any lull in form since the start, after the CANYON//SRAM Racing rider sprinted to third on today’s opening stage of Ceratazit Vuelta Challenge in A Rua, Spain.
A breakaway was created on the main 15-kilometre long climb of the stage and Elise worked hard to maintain and increase the gap all the way to the line.
“The start of the climb was super hard and the breakaway started really as quite a large group. We went full gas and a lot of riders were dropped from it, including some climbers,” described Elise.
“In the end, we were just four riders and only myself and Marlene (Reusser) were working which was pretty frustrating.”
The quartet held and extended its lead from the chasing peloton, all the way to the finish. Elise attacked her breakaway companions twice in the final kilometres but each time was reeled in, and the counter-attack of Reusser (ALE) was the successful one that went solo to the line. Elise sprinted for the remaining podium places and was happy to give CANYON//SRAM Racing a women’s world tour podium, its third in the last two weeks.
“After the finish, I was feeling so frustrated about how much work I did to get a chance at victory and then I could only go for the second or third place. There’s a lot I still have to learn, to keep my patience and play the game better. But now after a few hours, I’m happy with the result and to get a podium for the team,” explained Elise.
“Me being in the breakaway was also good for my teammates who could sit in the bunch and have an easier day. This will be good for our team for the next stages.”
Stage two of the Ceratazit Vuelta Challenge will be a seven-kilometre uphill individual time trial. Chabbey starts the stage third in the general classification, 28 seconds behind tour leader Reusser.
The tour can be followed on Twitter with #CeratizitChallenge21 and #UCIWWT. The final of each stage will be broadcast on RTVE, DKTV2, TV2, Eurosport, GCN, Olympic Channel, ESPN, RTVC Senal, Supersport, SBS Australia, Zhibo TV, JSports, Sky Sport, and Flo Bikes.
Stage 2 | Estación de Montana de Manzaneda ITT | 7.3km | 11:05CEST
Stage 3 | Estación de Montana de Manzaneda – Pereiro de Aguiar | 108km | 10:50CEST
Stage 4 | As Pontes – Santiago de Compostela | 107.5km | 10:50CEST