The day after Canadian dynamo Alison Jackson won Stage 2 of Vuelta España Femenina, another Canuck, Olivia Baril, came third. Marianne Vos won a reduced-peloton sprint after a fine lead-out from her team. Last season Vos won two stages, wore the red jersey for three days and took the points classification. Another Canadian, Magdeleine Vallieres, rounded out the top-10. Kata Blanka Vas kept the race lead.
The Course
Tuesday’s parcours was rolling with a single Cat. 3 categorized climb. After 130 km the finish was in Teruel.
📌 This is today’s 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚!
📌 ¡El 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙞𝙡 𝙙𝙚 𝙡𝙖 𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙥𝙖 de hoy!#LaVueltaFemenina pic.twitter.com/8zFrhU4EQs
— La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es (@LaVueltaFem) April 30, 2024
Monday’s victor, clad in the green points jersey, Alison Jackson was ready for another day in the saddle.
👀 Hello Alison! 💚 Can the @EF_Cannondale rider defend the green jersey today? She is tied in points with Blanka Vas, the current race leader!
👋🏻 ¡Hola @aliACTIONjackso! ¿Podrá la corredora de EF Education Cannondale defender el jersey verde hoy? Está empatada con la líder… pic.twitter.com/ff5gszSCHv
— La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es (@LaVueltaFem) April 30, 2024
Her compatriot and teammate Clara Emond did not start the third stage.
The breakaway was solo, a trademark move of Spaniard Mireia Benito. With 50 km to go, the AG Insurance-Soudal Team rider’s gap was 5:00.
Jackson, who struggled to hold on to the peloton on the Cat. 3, took a load of bottles for her teammates.
At the intermediate spring point, Benito still 4:00 up the road and Grace Brown in between, Vas dashed away to add a couple of seconds to her gap over Jackson and take over the points classification on the road. Baril earned the fourth-most points.
Visma-Lease a Bike was interested in setting up Marianne Vos for the win, so the team toiled at the front of the peloton, chipping away at Benito’s advantage. The field finally pegged back the intrepid fugitive with 7.5 km to go. A big crash with 2.7 km remaining took a lot of riders out of contention for the win.
In the sprint Baril tried to pull Vos back but the Dutch ace had a head full of steam and won by three bike lengths.
Unfortunately, Jackson dropped out of the GC top-10 and lost the points classification lead, but she’ll wear green again on…
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