In the first part of the Tour of Catalonia, Marianne Vos came close to victory, but made up for it in the queen stage. The Visma | Lease a Bike team leader won a tough mountainous stage with a finish in La Molina, riding solo to the finish.
The Dutch rider, who took the lead of the Catalan round, was followed by her compatriot Riejanne Markus (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) at 51 seconds and the Norwegian Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility) at 56 seconds, who came second and third, respectively.
After finishing second in the first day’s sprint, Vos imposed her law in a high mountain stage dominated by the Visma-Lease a Bike team, which wore down the front group with successive attacks on the last climb until its leader launched the final offensive five kilometers from the finish.
The climb to the first category passes of Collada de Toses and La Molina, with a high finish, conditioned the strategy of the peloton, which neutralized the first breakaway of the day, with 12 members, at the foot of the Collada de Toses, about 50 kilometers from the finish.
The AG Insurance-Soudal team, who lost their leader Ashleigh Moolman to a fall on the first day, captained the climb and topped the summit with three riders (Justine Ghekiere, Mireia Benito and Julie Van de Velde), closely followed by Movistar (Emma Norsgaard and Olivia Baril).
FDJ-Suez led the steep descent, but the group arrived united at Rialp, at the foot of the pass, from where Dutch rider Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike) took advantage of the toughest ramps, with a maximum gradient of 14%, to attack alone 13 kilometers from the finish in La Molina (5% average gradient).
As soon as Van Empel was caught, Visma-Lease a Bike followed a strategy of successive attacks to break the race. Femke de Vries and Riejanne Markus wore down the front group before Vos’ final change of pace five kilometers from the finish.
Katrine Aalerud (UnoX) came out on her wheel, but was unable to keep the pace of the triple world champion, who crowned the summit solo and opened a minute margin in the overall in the absence of the last stage, which will be held this Sunday with departure in Molins de Rei and arrival in Barcelona (86.6 kilometers).
The Tour of Catalonia Women will finish this Sunday with a short stage of 86.6 kilometers and two mountain passes of 3rd category between Molins de Rei and Barcelona.
Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña Femenina (2.1)
Resuls Stage 2 | La Seu d’Urgell – La Molina (95,7 km)
| 1 | Marianne Vos | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 2:49:43 |
| 2 | Riejanne Markus | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:51 |
| 3 | Katrine Aalerud | Uno-X Mobility | 0:56 |
| 4 | Solbjørk Minke Anderson | Uno-X Mobility | 1:12 |
| 5 | Kimberley Pienaar | AG Insurance – Soudal Team | 1:19 |
| 6 | Cédrine Kerbaol | CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team | 1:20 |
| 7 | Rosita Reijnhout | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 8 | Fem van Empel | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 9 | Maud Oudeman | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 10 | Alice Maria Arzuffi | CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Marianne Vos | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 5:35:40 |
| 2 | Riejanne Markus | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 1:00 |
| 3 | Katrine Aalerud | Uno-X Mobility | 1:08 |
| 4 | Solbjørk Minke Anderson | Uno-X Mobility | 1:28 |
| 5 | Kimberley Pienaar | AG Insurance – Soudal Team | 1:30 |
| 6 | Cédrine Kerbaol | CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team | 1:36 |
| 7 | Fem van Empel | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 8 | Rosita Reijnhout | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 9 | Maud Oudeman | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 10 | Alice Maria Arzuffi | CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team | ,, |