- Mischa Bredewold wins the second stage in a tough sprint
- Mischa Bredewold retains the yellow jersey
The second stage of the 2024 race is its shortest at 101.2 kilometres after the change but involves a demanding and nervous route. The cyclists attended the signature checkpoint in Basauri motivated and in good spirits, eager to do well in a stage that might seem easy on paper, but which involves a lot of intrigue.
The day got off to a quiet start, with Valentina Cavallar (ARK, 165) breaking away with the clear objective of scoring the mountain jersey points. The peloton, led by Teams SD Worx – Protime, followed closely and she was neutralised after the first mountain pass.
Still no breakaway and as the kilometres went by, Valentina Cavallar once again increased the pace on the Aretxabalgane gaina climb to add more points to her tally. Allowing the peloton to catch her on the descent.
As the final climb approached, the leader’s team upped the pace. Urruztigaina with its gradient of up to 18% and the hard pace set by SD Worx – Protime produced a peloton of 15 riders containing several of the favourites. Race leader Mischa Bredewold (SDW, 6) lost a few metres, but her teammates Vollering and Reusser maintained the pace set by Niamh Fisher (SDW, 7).
With 300 metres to go to the top, Demi Vollering took off alone in the lead, nobody could follow her. Elise Chabbey (CSR, 21) and Marlen Reusser (SDW, 1) joined the breakaway on the descent. The three riders worked together to open up a gap over the chasing group but were eventually neutralised by another group of 6.
At the front Marlen Reusser (SDW, 1), Demi Vollering (SDW, 2), Elise Chabbey (CSR, 21), Ricarda Bauernfeind (CSR, 22), Juliette Labous (DFP, 33), Evita Muzic (FST, 41), Pauliena Rooijakkers (FED, 53), Mavi Garcia (LAJ, 61) lead by 1 minute over the yellow jersey with 23 kilometres to go.
Behind, Lidl-Trek and Movistar successfully set their teams to close the gap. With 16 kilometres to go the peloton neutralised the breakaway and Mischa Bredewold was still in with a chance of retaining the yellow jersey.
The final kilometres involved a series of continuous attacks but with no clear outcome. Juliette Labous (33, DFP) gained a slight advantage in one of the attempts, Mavi Garcia (LAJ, 61) and Mischa Bredewold (SDW, 6) managed to make contact with her.
The leading trio combined well and approached the finish line with enough of an advantage to decide victory amongst themselves. The strongest rider was the race leader Mischa Bredewold (SDW, 6), who achieved a double in this 2024 edition. Second was Mavi Garcia (LAJ, 61) and third was Juliette Labous (33, DFP).
Standings after Stage 2
Stage winner: Mischa Bredewold (SDW, 6)
Overall individual ranking: Mischa Bredewold (SDW, 6)
Mountain classification: Valentina Cavallar (ARK, 165)
Overall points classification: Mischa Bredewold (SDW, 6)
Overall ranking best young rider: Shirin Van Anrooij (LDK, 16)
Overall team classification: Team SD Worx-Protime
Overall ranking best Basque rider: Ane Santesteban (LKF, 131)
Most combative: Valentina Cavallar (ARK, 165)
