Olympic gold medalist Lily Williams made it two fourth-place finishes in a row for the team in Spain, sprinting in a crash-affected peloton on stage 2 of Setmana Ciclista Valenciana.
“I am happy with the race today,” the 31-year-old said after the 115.5km stage to Vila-Real. “My form is good, and training has been going really well, but these races are a really important part of the preparation for the big races coming this spring.”
The stage was split into two halves, with a hilly opening of 60 km, followed by a 55 km rolling downhill run back to Vila-Real, which helped form an opportunistic breakaway trio.
“We did not know how hard the climbs would be, so once we made it over, we shifted our plan to the sprint,” explains Williams.
The breakaway was then reeled in on the outskirts of the city to set up a bunch sprint. However, when the lead rider crashed on a sharp left-hand corner in the finale, a subsequent median forced much of the peloton out of the sprint by pushing them wide off the finishing road.
“There were 19 roundabouts in the final 15 km,” exclaimed Williams. “I asked Kathrin to keep me near the front, which she was able to do, and we were in a really good position coming into the final kilometers. I was happy I had the legs to make it around the crash and back to the front. I lost the rear wheel on the next roundabout, so I felt I had to be a bit cautious in the final turn, which set me up in fourth.”
Thalita de Jong avoided the crash in the finale to finish in the peloton. She goes into stage 3 sixth overall, 1:02 behind leader Demi Vollering.
Tomorrow’s stage has been cancelled due to high winds.
The race will resume on Sunday with stage 4, which will be live on the RD3 Events Deportivos YouTube channel.
Setmana Ciclista Valenciana stage 1 results
1 FERGUSON Cat – Movistar Team 3:04:15
2 PATERNOSTER Letizia – Liv AlUla Jayco ”
3 BORGHESI Letizia – AG Insurance – Soudal Team ”
4 WILLIAMS Lily – Human Powered Health ”
5 KRAAK Amber – FDJ United – SUEZ ”
6 SKALNIAK-SÓJKA Agnieszka – CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto ”
7 COUZENS Millie – Fenix-Premier Tech ”
8 GASPARRINI Eleonora Camilla – UAE Team ADQ ”
9 RIEDMANN Linda – Lotto Intermarché Ladies ”
10 VALLIERES Magdeleine – EF Education-Oatly “
Photos: GettySport
