The Vuelta a Burgos is done and dusted. Four days of racing through Burgos with some great teamwork of the Team SD Worx riders. During the last stage it was Anna van der Breggen who beat Annemiek van Vleuten in a sprint for the stage victory. With this victory she also secured the victory of the general classification. With this win Van der Breggen ends a great period in Spain after also winning in Eibar and Durango.
During stage 1, it was Niamh Fisher-Black who was on the podium with a 3rd place after a sprint with three riders. With this performance she managed to get the white jersey.
“What I love about this team is all the opportunities we each get, today was one of those cool opportunities for me”, Fisher-Black said after the first stage. “I’m feeling pretty happy. It went in the first stage really fast. I didn’t expect to be in the position in the final to sprint for the stage victory. That was a little shock for me. Unfortunately I crossed the finish line as third. Demi Vollering reminded me that this is my second WorldTour podium and that I should be pretty happy with it”, was the first reaction of the young rider (20) from New-Zealand.
Another podium spot during this Vuelta a Burgos was for Anna van der Breggen, who became 3rd in stage 3 in a final uphill. Niamh Fisher-Black became on the third day the new leader of the Vuelta a Burgos, after a great 5th place in this stage.
The new leader of the GC was Saturday evening very satisfied: “I’m pretty happy about today. After crossing the finish line, I was stoked to finished top 5 in this stage and then someone said to me that I was the new leader in the race. That was quite unexpected! I don’t want to get too excited. We have one more stage to go and a lot can change. I keep my head and look to tomorrow. We have a strong team and one of us can win at least.”
And so, the last stage was an exciting one as literally everything was still possible! At the last climb to the finish, it was Team SD Worx who set pace at the group with favorite riders. Fisher-Black could not follow the pace and a few hundred meters further Van der Breggen, Vollering and Van Vleuten were leading the race. With 500 metres to go Vollering couldn’t follow the other two Dutch riders. Van Vleuten started to sprint but Van der Breggen could follow easy and get over. With winning the stage, she also managed to win the general classification.
In a reaction directly after the finish, Van der Breggen said: “It was hard until the finish, and it was really steep in the end. I was feeling well, so I was waiting and had something left to counter an attack. In the end, I put the speed up a bit and it was enough to win. It’s a really nice climb, it’s good to have a climb like this in the race. I think it was also a bit of a waiting game in the stages until this last finish up hill because we all knew this was the hardest part in these four days. It was great to have Niamh today in the leader’s jersey, she is only 20 years old. As a team we’ve had four good days in Burgos.”
Photo credits: Getty Sport