Dominika Włodarczyk claimed a brilliant victory in Stage 2 of Itzulia Women after an impressive display of courage, race intelligence and determination. For the Polish rider of UAE Team ADQ, this success carries extra meaning after already showing strong form yesterday and making her return to racing following a difficult period both physically and mentally.
The second stage covered 138 kilometres from Abadiño to Amorebieta-Etxano and featured a course well suited to aggressive racing and late attacks. After the breakaway of the day was caught and several moves were neutralised on the rolling final section, the decisive move came with around 10 kilometres to go, when Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek) attacked and Włodarczyk immediately bridged across.
The peloton hesitated behind, allowing the leading duo to build an advantage of around 20 seconds. Despite a late chase from the bunch, the reaction came too late to close the gap.
Van Anrooij and Włodarczyk worked well together until the final few hundred metres. In the sprint, the UAE Team ADQ rider timed her effort perfectly, launching her sprint with precision to overtake van Anrooij and hold off the fast-closing peloton. Mischa Bredewold (Team SD Worx – Protime) finished second, just ahead of her compatriot van Anrooij.
Tomorrow, the race will conclude with Stage 3, a 131.1-kilometre route starting and finishing in San Sebastián. Włodarczyk now sits fifth in the General Classification, 30 seconds behind overall leader Mischa Bredewold.
After securing her first win of the season, Dominika Włodarczyk said: “I came back to racing after a difficult period. A virus forced me to miss all of the Ardennes Classics, races I had prepared really well for, and that made me very frustrated.
I arrived at this race without specific goals and with nothing to lose, just taking it day by day and trying to understand how my body was feeling.
Today I felt really good from the beginning, even though I was involved in a crash. At that point, I decided to give it a try and I still can’t believe I managed to win.
I knew there was a climb with around 6-7 kilometres to go that could be a good place to attack. Van Anrooij attacked first and I decided to follow her. In that moment, I felt I had really strong legs, although honestly I still don’t know where they came from after the last few weeks.
General classification? I’m not thinking about it. From the beginning I told myself I would take this race one day at a time because I didn’t really know what my condition would be. Right now I just want to enjoy this beautiful victory, and tomorrow we will see what happens.”
(ph. Getty Sport)
