In some ways, stage 4 of La Vuelta Femenina felt like a typical Grand Tour stage: A breakaway of four enjoyed a healthy lead, but a sprint finish looked inevitable – until Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health) and Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) left their companions Annelies Nijssen (Lotto-Intermarché) and Marine Allione (Mayenne-Monbana-My Pie) behind and really gave the peloton a run for their money, only being caught within the 3km mark.
“It was a really nice day out there. I had three other riders with me, we had good cooperation, and I really believed that we were going to make it to the finish,” Hanson said.
“But that’s racing sometimes. To come so close is a bit heartbreaking, but we can take a lot of confidence out of it. These first five days, there’s a lot of opportunities for breakaways and we’re here to try. I gave it everything today.”
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Jaskulska had attacked on a climb with 14 km to go, taking Hanson with her while Allione and Nijssen lost contact. The two riders left in front are both strong rouleuses and could hold off the peloton on the descent until 6 km to go, but the rolling terrain in the final spelled the end for them.
“With still a minute with 9 km to go, I thought that maybe we would get there. We still had 30 seconds in those last couple of kilometres, and then all of a sudden, they were there. I didn’t realise it was closing so quickly, but when you’ve got a storming peloton behind you, there’s only so much you can do,” said Hanson.
Marine Allione (Mayenne-Monbana-My Pie) was caught even earlier, but the 25-year-old Frenchwoman had already achieved her objective for the day: She took the lead in the mountain classification and will wear the multi-coloured polka-dot mountain jersey on stage 5.
“It’s incredible to have the jersey, to be on the podium of a Grand Tour. For me, it’s crazy, I can’t believe it,” said Allione after receiving her new jersey.
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Allione had gone on the attack early on and was first over the Alto de Oural to score her first six mountain points. On the Alto do Hospital, she sprinted away from her companions to take another six points. This put her on twelve points, the same as Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), but Allione took the lead due to having won two third-category mountain sprints to Squiban’s one.
“Keeping the jersey will be hard with the mountain stages coming up. But for us as a team, for me, this is huge. I think it is something I will remember my whole life,” Allione finished.
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