Emakumeen Saria

Basque climber from Movistar Team shows world-class talent after last year's podium finish, grabs back-to-back top-ten results at region's biggest classic. Blues finish with four into top-25, end up as 4th best team in the race.

Dutchwoman Anna Van der Breggen (DLT) was, just like for most of the spring campaign, unstoppable at the 2018 edition of the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria. The Basque classic (UCI 1.2), held on Thursday over a very hilly parcours -113km in length- crowned by the two ascents to the Alto de Goiuria, mostly remained gruppo compatto until those climbs, from which the Movistar Team started to show, yet again, their top quality against some of the best WorldTour squads.

It was an even more remarkable performance -in her return to the international peloton, three months after the Setmana Valenciana- by Eider Merino, already a winner earlier this month at home in Balmaseda (Spanish Cup). The tough slopes of the last Goiuria climb took her to a five-rider pursuit group behind Van der Breggen, Annemiek Van Vleuten (MTS, 2nd) and Sabrina Stultiens (WAD, 3º). The young Basque climber finished in 9th spot, 1’22” behind the winner, closing that first numerous group ahead of a second peloton which included the Movistar Team’s Malgorzata Jasinska (16th) -quite active at the first Goiuria ascent-, Rachel Neylan (19th) and Lorena Llamas (21st). The support by Alicia González and Lourdes Oyarbide in the beginning of the race was also fundamental.

The great level shown by Merino and the Blues allowed the Jorge Sanz-led squad finishing in fourth place in the teams’ classification, only behind three from the best teams in the world: Mitchelton, WaowDeals and Boels-Dolmans. A good sign of the performance the Movistar Team aspires to reach from Saturday at the renewed Emakumeen Euskal Bira, part of the UCI Women’s WorldTour for the first time in its history.

Picture (c): Sean Robinson / Vélofocus