(Montreal) Twentieth in the general classification before the start of the fourth stage of the Tour of Spain, Olivia Baril (UAE Team ADQ) climbed five places in the cumulative of the event when she finished 12th in the race of Thursday.
The Rouyn-Noranda cyclist finished in the group of favorites where the holder of the red jersey, the Dutch Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma), was the first to cross the finish line for a second day in a row.
Vos collected 12 bonus seconds in the process, which brings her lead in the provisional general classification to 25 seconds over American Chloe Dygert. As for Baril, she is 1 minute 15 seconds behind the leader at the end of the 133 kilometer course presented between Cuenca and Guadalajara.
“We did the stage to prepare for Silvia Persico’s (ninth) sprint, but she didn’t do a good sprint,” acknowledged the Quebecer.
“Only for the team, we are happy because Erica Magnaldi and I were still in the first group. (Personally) I felt really good today (Thursday) and it looks really good for the next stages in the mountains, so I’m really happy! Continued the one who mentioned being sad that her Australian teammate Mikayla Harvey fell halfway through the race.
Thirtieth of the day, Simone Boilard (St Michel – Mavic – Auber93) was the first of the second group to reach the finish with a delay of 1 minute 15 seconds. Adèle Normand (Massi – Tactic) and Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), 88th and 92nd, were both behind by 2 minutes 44 seconds.
The trio that formed the breakaway of the day, which included the Olympic champion, the Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer (Israel – Premier Tech-Roland), was joined by the peloton at the top of the penultimate climb of the day.
SD Worx and Movistar maintained a steady pace on the last climb, the Alto de Horche, which had the effect of splitting the peloton in two. This group was put under even more pressure when world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) attacked on the downhill, followed by Demi Vollering (SD Worx), recent winner of the Ardennes triptych.
The duo, which was at times over 80 km / h on the descent, was then caught 2.5 kilometers from the line.
In the general classification, Boilard (4 min 20 s), Vallières-Mill (11 min 37 s) and Normand (13 min 29 s) are respectively 37th, 79th and 84th.
The Tour of Spain will visit the high mountains for the first time on Friday, when the profile of the stage will count a first category mountain pass at the midpoint and a finish at the top of a second category mountain pass. The 129 kilometers of race will be presented between La Cabrera and the Mirador de Penas Llanas.