On Thursday Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’s Women’s program took on the first stage of the Setmana Valenciana. On a faster day than expected, Francesca Barale crossed the line the first for the team, as the pure sprinters held on at the front of the race.
Francesca Barale commented: “Overall it was a good race from us. We actually expected a reduced bunch sprint, but in the end, the group was pretty big and a lot of pure sprinters were still there. Juliette and I went over the top of the last climb in a small group but then everyone came back. Ultimately, I sprinted to a top 15 place, so overall, we couldn’t have done much better than that. It was good teamwork before the climbs and the positioning with all the other girls was perfect. We can be happy and confident with Juliette on the climbs for the next few days”.