Bredewold defends Itzulia Women's jersey with guts as Wlodarczyk doubles up

The third and final stage of the Itzulia Women has been won by Dominika Wlodarczyk. The Polish UAE Team ADQ rider claimed her second consecutive stage victory — but Mischa Bredewold produced a remarkable rescue act in a hugely tense finale, fighting back to secure the overall title for SD Worx-Protime.

Heading into the closing stage, Bredewold had a 16-second lead over her closest rival Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech). The stage was not impossibly demanding — but the climb to Mendizorrotz in the finale offered a genuine opportunity to attack.

Appetite for an early breakaway was there, but the peloton refused to let anyone go for a very long time. It was not until after 70 kilometres that a lone rider finally managed to escape: Italian Nadia Quagliotto of Cofidis built around 30 seconds of lead. The bunch was never far behind, and her adventure lasted only around eight kilometres before she was reeled back in. Meanwhile Kastelijn had secured the mountains classification, being first over the Jaizkibel.

The tempo in the bunch remained high and the race moved quickly towards the intermediate sprint. Liane Lippert — who had started the day 36 seconds behind Bredewold — crossed the line first there and took three bonus seconds. But Bredewold was alert and took two seconds back herself. Nobody could escape, and so a packed peloton headed into the race's final climb.

Before the final ascent, one last intermediate sprint: Bredewold again crossed first, alert as ever. The pace into the final climb was ferocious. Nina Buijsman (Human Powered Health) almost arrived with a gap at the foot of the climb — but was caught just before it began.

The climb was attacked mercilessly, and riders were shed one by one. Most critically, Bredewold — the race leader — cracked with 14 kilometres remaining. The seven-rider lead group, in which Kastelijn was best placed overall, had 30 seconds at the summit. Everything was suddenly on the line for Bredewold's overall win.

Fortunately for the Dutch rider, there was an almost complete lack of cooperation at the front. This was particularly striking because FDJ-SUEZ had three riders in the group — but failed to ride, with their entire trio sitting at the back at one point. After a strong descent, Bredewold had already reduced the gap to eight seconds, which was effectively enough to save the overall title.

In the final kilometre the gap was closed entirely, and the sprint settled it. Wlodarczyk, just as the day before, was the quickest.