Silvia Persico (Valcar-Travel & Service) won stage 4 of the Challenge by La Vuelta, powering her way up the final two-kilometre climb into Segovia. The Italian outsprinted runner-up Demi Vollering (SD Worx) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).
“It was a long stage, and the first two hours were really not fast,” said Persico. “I didn’t feel good in the first part of the race, but my teammates stayed with me all day, and I thought ‘I have to be good today, this is my last race for the team’.
“I am very happy to take this victory and want to thank my teammates because they were fantastic.”
The front of the race was dominated by a 150-kilometre solo effort from Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer (Soltec Team), bringing back memories of her gold medal ride as she held and advantage of up to 9’30. She suffered a crash out on course, a fall that may have proved crucial in her winning the stage.
It was still a close run thing, and it took a concerted effort from Trek-Segafredo, Canyon-SRAM, FDJ SUEZ Futuroscope, and Team BikeExchange-Jayco to peg her back. Unlike at the Olympics her lead was whittled down and she was caught just before the final kilometre.
On the finishing climb there were a number of attacks but it came down to the punchiest climbers, and Longo Borghini started the sprint with 200m to go before being passed by Persico and Vollering in the final 50 metres, with the young Italian taking her first WorldTour win.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) maintaining her overall race 1’51 ahead of Longo Borghini, with victory all but assured heading into the final flat stage in Madrid.
The Challenge by La Vuelta continues with Stage 5, which will be contested around 17 lumpy laps of course within Madrid. Watch from 9.20pm AEST on SBS On Demand, with catch-up replays and winning moments on SBS On Demand the following day.
