Fresh from her overall victory at La Vuelta Femenina, Paula Blasi returned to racing in style, claiming another impressive win at the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria. The 23-year-old Spanish rider took victory solo after a decisive late attack.
Blasi lined up alongside the young teammates of UAE Development Team, who delivered a strong collective performance throughout the race. Alena Ivanchenko, Safiya Alsayegh, Celia Torres, Giada Silo and Magdalena Leis controlled the race brilliantly, also helping to bring back a three-rider breakaway that had built an advantage of over four minutes.
The 113-kilometre race, starting and finishing in Durango, was decided in the final section featuring three consecutive categorized climbs. Once the breakaway was caught, the pace increased significantly and the main favourites came to the front.
On the final climb, Blasi was at the front with world champion Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly), Évita Muzic and Lauren Dickson (FDJ-SUEZ), Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) and Alice Towers (EF Education-Oatly), while Ema Comte (Cofidis Women Team) was chasing just behind.
A crucial moment came after the final summit, when Vallieres crashed in a downhill corner while leading the front group. The incident also forced Dickson and Markus to slow down, while Blasi reacted quickly and skillfully avoided the crash, continuing at the front with Muzic and Towers.
With 8.6 kilometres remaining, on another uphill section, Blasi launched her race-winning move. The Spanish rider dropped her two breakaway companions and rode solo all the way to the finish, securing her third victory of the season following her success at the Amstel Gold Race and the overall win at La Vuelta Femenina.
After the race, Paula Blasi said: “To be honest, I didn’t feel as good as I expected at the start of the race, but my sensations improved as the kilometres went by. Today I was surrounded by the girls from the Development Team, the team I was part of until a few months ago, and they did an incredible job to give me the opportunity to fight for the win in the final. On the second climb I wasn’t feeling great, so I tried to stay under control without pushing too much. Then on the final climb, things changed a bit also because of Magdeleine Vallieres’ crash, and I decided to attack. In the end, I managed to open a gap and win a race that means a lot to me.”
(ph. Getty Sport)
