Visma | Lease a Bike frustrated despite another Vos podium as Ferrand-Prévot loses time: "You really shouldn’t get dropped on a climb like that"

And so the 37-year-old Vos finished second in stage four. It was the first truly demanding day of climbing in this year’s race. While the GC contenders kept their powder dry on the first ascent, the pace kicked up on the second. Vos managed to hold on and made it into a front group of fifteen riders heading into the finale.

That’s where Van der Breggen made her move, on the descent. “I really had to fight to stay with the lead group over the climb. Then Anna attacked in the downhill and when you give her even a few meters, it’s hard to bring her back. Of course I went for the best possible result, but second place was the limit today,” Vos said on her team’s website. With this result, the Dutch rider has now finished on the podium for three consecutive stages at La Vuelta Femenina.

Despite Vos getting the best possible result, there was clear frustration in the Visma | Lease a Bike camp. Team director Jos van Emden didn’t hide his disappointment, especially with Vos being the only rider from the team in the front group. “This was really a missed opportunity,” said Van Emden, who watched Pauline Ferrand-Prévot struggle. “If you start the Vuelta with GC ambitions, you simply cannot afford to get dropped on a climb like that. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. It’s going to be tough to play a major role in the general classification now, but we’re not giving up.”

The French rider managed to limit the damage, losing 26 seconds to Van der Breggen as part of the second chase group. In the overall standings she actually moved up to 25th place, but her time gap has now grown to 59 seconds.