Emakumeen Bira (st. 3)
Climbing duo from Movistar Team stay near the main GC contenders as Wiles (TFS) wins solo under the rain after late exhibition. Tough mountain day still left around Oñati on Saturday.
American Tayler Wiles (TFS) took a really strong late attack to fruition on stage three of the 2019 Emakumeen Bira, over 100km with two tough final climbs in Álava: Opakua (Cat-1) and the finish atop the grueling, steep Santa Teodosia (Cat-2).
Wiles put twenty seconds on a leading trio of GC contenders with Elisa Longo Borghini (TFS), Soraya Paladin (ALE) and Annemiek van Vleuten (MTS), all of them ahead of a second echelon including Mavi García (7th, +50″) and Eider Merino (10th, +58″).
The two Blue climbers, well supported by Patiño, Llamas and Gutiérrez until the foot of the climb, survive into the overall top-ten -Mavi in sixth, Eider in tenth- after another great effort into the breakaway by Polish champion Malgorzata Jasinska, head of the race until the Opakua ascent.
The 2019 Bira will end with Saturday’s long-awaited stage four: a very tough 156km -near the UCI limit of 160- with the challenging ascents of Udana (Cat-3), Atagoiti (Cat-2), Untzilla (Cat-3) and Asentzio (Cat-1), the latter of which will be crested just 18km before the finish in Oñati.
?⛰️?♀️ Ante la ausencia de TV en vivo en Santa Teodosia, final en alto de la #Bira 2019, hemos querido registrar en vídeo la llegada de @mavi_at (7ª), @eidermerino (10ª) y todas las 'azules'. Caras de enorme esfuerzo y desgaste bajo la lluvia. Grandes, chicas. #AzulCieloYMásAllá pic.twitter.com/qYJ6xB2drr
— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) May 24, 2019
Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport