Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour (st. 5)

Basque rouleur from Movistar Team takes 17th in tough Meiningen course -won by Ellan van Dijk (NED)-, sits in 3rd with just one day to go in the prestigious German UCI race.

Lourdes Oyarbide (Movistar Team) did a good job at the crucial moment, Saturday’s 17.9km ITT defining the overall result at the 2019 Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, and kept the distances to all but secure one of her most prominent results as a pro: a GC podium in a six-day event, out of Spain, against big international teams.

The Álava native was 17th into a tough course in and around Meiningen -with a 4km climb right from the start and a short, steep slope close to the finish-, 2’04” behind big Dutch specialist Ellen van Dijk, and kept her third place overall from the eve with more than two minutes over Christa Riffel (CSR), while now sitting 1’19” off race leader Kathrin Hammes (WNT) – who kept yellow by just 8″ against Mathiesen (SUN).

The squad managed by Pablo Lastras in Germany -which had Aude Biannic (14th) as top performer, yet suffered an OTL, due to pain from her crashes, with Alba Teruel- will tackle a fast, rolling final stage (86km) in Altenburg on Sunday, where the Blues will seek to confirm a well-deserved result.

Cover picture (c): Velofocus