(Montreal) Of the four teams that have a Quebec athlete in their ranks, Olivia Baril, UAE Team ADQ, obtained the best ranking in the team time trial, a ninth place, at the start of the Women’s Tour of Spain, Monday.
On the flat 14.5 kilometer course of this first stage contested in the streets of Torrevieja, the athlete’s team from Rouyn-Noranda maintained an average speed of 46.44 km/h to stop the clock at 18 minutes. 44 seconds, trailing the winners, Jumbo-Visma, by 41 seconds. Britain’s Anna Henderson dons the red leader’s jersey.
“We did the best we could, except that we made many, many technical errors. Let’s say it could have been better,” said Olivia Baril after the race.
The team time trial is an exercise where the members of the same team must produce a homogeneous effort, because it is the time of the fourth rider who was retained in the classification. This is what was lacking at UAE Team ADQ as noted by the Quebecer.
“Some teammates had more difficulty,” she conceded.
The formations of Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, +48 seconds), Simone Boilard (St-Michel — Mavic — Auber93, +59 seconds) and Adèle Normand (Massi-Tactic, +1 min 26 s) took the 11e12e and 14e ranks of the 23 registered teams.
Overall, Baril is 43eVallières-Mill 55eBoilard 60e and Norman 76e. Changes are expected on Tuesday as nine riders from two teams are all within a one-second gap.
The course of the second stage will be disputed on Tuesday over the 106 kilometers separating Orihuela and Pilar de la Horadada, in the south-east of Spain.