Visma turns the tables in Catalonia to give Vos her comeback victory

Marianne Vos won the third and final stage of the Tour of Catalonia. Visma | Lease a Bike demonstrated its dominance in the sprints, with Nienke Veenhoven leading out her teammate this time, rather than the other way around. It resulted in another one-two finish. Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) took the overall victory.

Two days, two completely different stories. In Stage 1, Visma | Lease a Bike had double reason to celebrate with a perfect one-two finish: Nienke Veenhoven won, and Marianne Vos capped off her comeback with a second-place finish. The next stage, however, was a grueling mountain stage. There, Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) made her move—perhaps as expected.

The Spanish sensation left everyone in the dust during the challenging stage. It would come down to survival in the relatively flat final stage. The opening phase was quite hilly, but no one was able to break away there. It wasn’t until late in the day that Oda Aune Gissinger (Hitec Products - Fluid Control) managed to break away; she was joined by Isabella Bertold (E.C. Mataró), Natalie Revelo (WCC), and Paula Ostiz (Movistar).

They gained about three minutes on the peloton. In the breakaway group, it was clear who the strongest riders were: Gissinger crashed on a descent but made a impressive comeback. Together with Ostiz, she dropped Revelo and Bertold. Impressive, because that meant we had two 19-year-olds at the front. Gissinger has already made a name for herself in the U23 category, while Ostiz is the European and world champion in that category.

The Spanish rider was eager to attack and made several attempts to break away from Gissinger, but without success. Meanwhile, the peloton was quickly closing in on the flat final stretch. FDJ-SUEZ and Visma | Lease a Bike were doing the work at the front of the peloton: the Dutch team had two trump cards to play in Veenhoven and Vos. The slightly uphill finish stretch should suit the Cannibal well.

On the wide roads heading toward Barcelona, the young duo didn’t stand a chance. With three kilometers to go, they were caught. Cofidis did a fantastic job, while Visma | Lease a Bike had to come from further back but timed their move perfectly. Veenhoven, with Vos on her wheel, delivered a fantastic lead-out, after which Vos came out on top this time: Veenhoven finished second.