Another bullseye for SD Worx-Protime in Burgos, but this time it is not Wiebes who's on target

The third stage of the Vuelta a Burgos Féminas has been won by Mischa Bredewold. The Amersfoort native was too fast for Mireia Benito in a two-up sprint, giving SD Worx-Protime a clean sweep of all three stages in the Spanish stage race. Lorena Wiebes retained the leader's jersey.

Two stages in, two sprint wins — and in Burgos you quickly know what that means. Wiebes won stage one with an impressive show of force, and stage two was also a comfortable victory for the Dutch champion. Stage three was not dramatically harder on paper. Could she complete the hat-trick? To do so, she would first need to survive a double ascent of the Alto de Bocos (3 kilometres at an average of 6.2 per cent).

Five riders went clear from the sweltering start in Busto de Bureba: Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home), Constance Valentin (Mayenne Monbana My Pie), Sharon Spimi (Top Girls Fassa Bortolo), Kaja Rysz (Hitec Products-Fluid Control), and Afghan champion Fariba Hashimi (BePink-Vini Fantini). The quintet never had much room to breathe, though.

Their maximum advantage was around two minutes — and in truth they were fighting a losing battle fairly early on. The peloton let them struggle away, but it quickly became clear that this Saturday afternoon was not going to be theirs.

With around thirty kilometres remaining, the last breakaway rider was swept up and the peloton was largely back together, with all the stage favourites present. At one point this even produced a kind of ceasefire, as the strung-out bunch momentarily bunched up into a compact group.

Were they heading to the finish together with no further drama? Not at all. Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) tried her luck with a solo move, building an impressive lead of more than one minute. The Lidl-Trek riders — and later other teams — gave chase at full throttle.

From the peloton, Bredewold, Smulders and Amanda Spratt counter-attacked. It was Bredewold who stood out immediately, dropping the others fairly quickly and heading off alone towards Benito. There was no overhauling her, however, so it would come down to a sprint. That was no problem whatsoever for the in-form Dutch rider, who won with ease over Benito. Lorena Wiebes completed the podium a few seconds back, making SD Worx-Protime's day complete.