Itzulia Women kicked off this morning with a 140 kilometre route from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Elgoibar. Tackling a few hills throughout the day, the last one came at roughly 20 kilometres to the finish so things were expected to come back together for some type of reduced sprint finale. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL worked well throughout the day, coming into the last climb in a good position, before marking and closing down several attacks in the final ten kilometres. The team then brought finisher Josie Nelson into the first few wheels of the bunch as the bunch strung out in the technical finale ahead of the sprint. Nelson launched a strong kick and was finishing fast, coming around several riders to take a fine fourth place on the stage, and with it move into the lead of the best young rider’s competition.
After the stage Nelson said: “There were a few hard climbs on today’s stage and a few breaks went but nothing stayed away for long. It was pretty calm in the bunch until the last ten kilometres when the pace picked up and some late attacks went. The girls dropped me off perfectly into the last roundabout at 400 metres to go. It was a very technical finish, with speed bumps on the corners making it quite tricky to carry speed round. I’m happy with the result and pleased to be wearing the best U23 jersey for tomorrow’s stage.”