After the victory of Albertan Alison Jackson during the second stage of the Tour of Spain, Magdeleine Vallières-Mill saw another of her teammates from her EF Education-Cannondale team win on Wednesday, during the fourth stage of the Vuelta.
Kristen Faulkner broke away from a group of 18 cyclists at the head of the race with just over 5 kilometers to go. The attack paid off for the American who managed to cross the finish line solo, 10 seconds ahead of her closest pursuers.
“I’m really happy for Kristen! With Kristen and Alison in the first group, we knew we were in a good position. The plan was for her (Faulkner) to leave before the finish and everything went according to plan. Kristen is so strong, we had confidence in her,” Magdeleine Vallières-Mill told Sportcom.
Behind Faulkner, the Australian Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) won the sprint for second place ahead of the Dutch Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike), victorious the day before. Alison Jackson (EF Education-Cannondale) finished seventh.
After around thirty kilometers of racing, the peloton split with 19 runners at the front. A few kilometers later, 40 others accelerated to form the chasing group. Quebecers Magdeleine Vallières-Mill and Olivia Baril (Movistar) were part of this peloton.
The Italian Elena Cecchini (SD Worx – Protime), who was in the first group, experienced some mechanical problems and she was relegated to the second group, which ultimately never managed to close the gap with the leaders.
With two teammates in the breakaway, Vallières-Mill’s job in the chasing group was to limit the damage and ensure that no one tried to join the leaders.
My role was simple: I didn’t want to go and shoot at the front, I just wanted to stay in a good position in case we came back to the first group to help my teammates for the final.
Magdeleine Vallières-Mill
Baril and Vallières-Mill respectively finished in the 24e and 29e steps (+2 minutes 1 second).
In the provisional general classification, Marianne Vos takes the red leader’s jersey. She has a priority of 5 seconds over the Hungarian Blanka Vas (SD Worx–Protime). With her solo victory, Kristen Faulkner (+9 seconds) climbs to third place.
The third stage of the Tour of Spain will be presented on Thursday, in the mountains.
A top 3 for Israel–Premier Tech in Frankfurt
Hugo Houle (Israel – Premier Tech) was in action on Wednesday at the Frankfurt Grand Prix in Germany. The Quebecer took 71e rank (+5 minutes 11 seconds) in this one-day race where one of his teammates fought for victory.
The American Riley Sheehan was well placed at the front of the peloton in the final meters of the race. He finally took third place, being only ahead of the Belgian Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and the Spaniard Alex Aranburu (Movistar), first and second respectively.
Ontarian Derek Gee, also from Israel–Premier Tech, ranked 14theat the same time as the winner.
For Hugo Houle, it was a first World Tour level race since he experienced concussion symptoms after the Tour of Flanders at the end of March. He made his return to the classic Lotte Famenne Ardenne (1.1) on April 28.