Published May 24, 2019 03:51PM
Tayler Wiles takes first WorldTour victory at Emakumeen Bira
American Tayler Wiles won her first WorldTour race on Friday in Spain
SANTA TEODOSIA, SPAIN - MAY 24: Tayler Wiles of The United States and Team Trek- Segafredo / during the 32nd Women WT Emakumeen. Bira 2019, Stage 3 a 97km stage from Murgia to Santa Teodosia 1051m / #Bira / #UCIWWT / @EmakumeenBira / on May 24, 2019 in Santa Teodosia, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
American rider Tayler Wiles (Trek-Segafredo) took the first UCI Women’s WorldTour victory of her career on Friday, winning the third stage of the Emakumeen Bira stage race in Spain’s Basque country.
Wiles won from a solo breakaway, and attacked on the penultimate climb of the hilly stage. Wiles made her move with 20km remaining in the 97.6km stage from Murgia to Santa Teodosia, which finished with a steep 2.5km drag to the line.
She held off the charging peloton by 21 seconds. Teammate Elisa Longo Borghini won the sprint for second place.
“It was brutal—it was the longest kilometer of my life,” Wiles said after the win. “I had my team in my ear cheering me on, so it was pretty special.”
Wiles said her attack was part of the team’s plan. Teammate Lauretta Hanson help keep her at the front of the peloton, and at the base of the penultimate climb, she attacked.
“I just put my head down and went for it and never looked back,” Wiles said.
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Wiles stretched her advantage to nearly 40 seconds by the time she hit the final climb to the finish. She collapsed after crossing the line atop the fog covered climb.
Wiles’s win also marks the first UCI Women’s WorldTour victory for the Trek-Segafredo team, which formed during the offseason between 2018 and 2019. The team collected two third-place finishes earlier this year, but had yet to win one of the races.
The Basque tour concludes on Saturday with a 156km circuit race. Overnight leader Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), who won Thursday’s 110km circuit race, kept her lead.