Tour of the Basque Country | Olivia Baril saves the furniture, but slips in the rankings

Leader in the general classification of the Tour of the Basque Country, the Dutchwoman Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) increased her lead on Saturday when she won a second consecutive stage. The European champion won the second stage, 104 kilometers presented on the roads surrounding the town of Basauri. Olivia Baril (Movistar) placed fourth with a delay of 4 seconds.

This gap, combined with bonus seconds won by her competitors who beat her at the finish and in the two intermediate sprints, had the effect of sliding her from fourth to sixth place in the general classification, where she is 21 seconds behind Bredewold. Florence Normand (Winspace) ranked 66^e (+7 min 2 s).

Bredewold sits at the top with a lead of 14 seconds over Frenchwoman Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL), while Normand is at 77^e rank (+9 min 23 s).

After Friday’s stage, Baril stressed that she felt in good shape. On Saturday, she blamed herself for not having had the ideal scenario to take advantage of it.

“It’s really a shame this breakaway of three riders,” admitted Baril. My team worked really, really hard all day to get to the sprint with me because it ended with a 700m climb and I knew I was one of the strongest. If it hadn’t been for this breakaway, we could have won the stage, so it’s a shame. I had good feelings for the finish. »

The cyclist from Rouyn-Noranda is not throwing in the towel for the third and final stage which will be presented on Sunday, between Donostia and San Sebastian, her adopted home where she has been training for several years already.

A sign that she could almost be one of the local favorites, she even gave a television interview in Basque before the start of Saturday’s race.

First, second and third category passes will await the riders, in addition to two intermediate sprints which could change the situation if the racing pace on the climbs does not succeed in making a selection in the peloton.