Wlodarczyk times it to perfection to frustrate hard charging Bredewold in the Basque Country

Stage two of the Itzulia Women has been won by Dominika Wlodarczyk. The Polish UAE Team ADQ rider was the quickest and cleverest in a tactical battle against Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek). Mischa Bredewold produced an impressive sprint to come very close — but just too late: she finished second. She did, however, keep the leader's jersey.

The Itzulia Women opened on Friday with a characteristically hilly stage that made a real selection — and Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) climbed superbly with the best before beating them in the sprint. It was the third consecutive year the Dutch rider had won the opening stage of the race.

Saturday's second stage came with 2,500 metres of climbing to defend that jersey. In the hilly terrain, an early breakaway was slow to establish itself — just as on Friday. Eventually Nikola Noskova (Cofidis) managed to get clear solo and held her advantage for a while, but the Czech rider couldn't sustain it. With 60 kilometres to go, roughly halfway through the stage, she was caught.

The race remained quiet for a long time before the finale was opened by Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco). The Swede built a solid lead on the day's final categorised climb — but the favourites quickly came to the boil. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM Zondacrypto), the strongest climber from Friday, went first, but she was countered hard by Liane Lippert. The German from Movistar caused a significant selection.

Lippert brought Niedermaier with her, along with the FDJ-SUEZ duo of Juliette Berthet and Évita Muzic. Bredewold could not match the initial acceleration and had to give chase — her rivals sat on her wheel and let the race leader do all the work. On the rolling descent, the Dutch rider pressed hard and was able to get back on.

But at the next uphill section, Lippert went again. She was clearly in excellent form: she quickly opened a substantial lead. On the following descent she also took significant risks. Too many, as it turned out. The German crashed and was swept back up by the peloton. Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) had used the chaos to slip away — but Bredewold closed that gap herself. What followed was a phase of general disorganisation in which seemingly everyone saw an opening.

Valentina Cavallar was an important lifeline for Bredewold at this point. The Austrian went to the front and kept the tempo high. One final difficult uphill section remained — but it was quiet for a long time, until Van Anrooij made her move. The Dutch Lidl-Trek rider chose her moment well and slipped away alongside Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ).

The Polish rider proved the stronger and rode Van Anrooij off her wheel. On the descent, however, Van Anrooij impressively got back on. The gap grew to the point where Bredewold's leader's jersey was genuinely under threat. She owed a great deal to the formidable Cavallar. Bredewold then launched a 500-metre sprint to catch the pair — but came just too late: Wlodarczyk won.