Sarah Van Dam caught in crash at La Vuelta España Femenina

Another brutal day at La Vuelta España Femenina. Victoria’s Sarah Van Dam had some bad luck, getting caught behind a crash, but her teammate Marion Bunel had a solid day, taking over the white jersey for best young rider.

Stage 6

France’s Bunel had a great ride on Stage 6 of La Vuelta Femenina. She climbed to third overall and took control of the young rider classification after a huge performance on the brutal ascent to Les Praeres de Nava.

The 21-year-old French rider stayed with the race favourites deep into the decisive 3.7-km climb, which averaged 13 per cent and featured ramps as steep as 24 per cent. Bunel eventually crossed the line in third place behind the top GC contenders.

Meanwhile, Van Dam was caught up in a crash earlier in the stage, but was able to continue. She fought hard to finish 34th, but slipped from fifth overall to 27th in the GC.

The Angliru awaits

There’s one stage to go, and it is a helluva day for the women.

Bunel now sits third overall heading into the final mountain stage, which finishes atop the feared Angliru. I mean, feared if you don’t like hills. Some of the pro women are probably stoked for the incredible test—it’s gonna shake up the GC.

“I’m really happy with this. It feels great to reward the team’s hard work,” Bunel said after the finish. “The atmosphere in the team is very good and we’ve all done our best to achieve the best possible result.”

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot said things went according to plan, well, for the most part. “We were exactly where we wanted to be at every crucial point,” Ferrand-Prévot said. “At the foot of the climb, I saw Marion pass me and it seemed best to go for a good result with her. I’m really happy for her that she did so well.”

The last day of the Vuelta is from La Pola Llaviana to the Angliru for a total of 132.9 km. But oh boy, as Stanley Tucci said in The Devil Wears Prada (keeping things topical), “gird your loins” because the peloton is about to suffer up this brutal climb.

Thankfully, we can enjoy our coffee and cheer the pros on from a distance on Flobikes.com at 6:40 a.m. EDT. And yeah, Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a report after this epic day of racing for the women.