Challenge by La Vuelta stage 2: Annemiek van Vleuten smashes uphill time trial, Marlen Reusser keeps race lead

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) put in a storming ride to win the uphill time trial at the Estación de Montaña de Manzaneda on stage 2 of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.

Van Vleuten started in the final wave of riders and blasted up the steep incline to the line to complete the 7.2km course in a time of 19:08 on Friday.

Race leader, Marlen Reusser (Alé BTC Ljubljana) put in a big effort to finish second on the stage at just 19 seconds behind van Vleuten, to maintain a significant lead in the overall classification. Meanwhile, Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) rounded out the top-3 at 27 seconds back with a great ride.

Reusser still holds a 1:36 lead in the overall classification, with Pauliena Rooijakkers (Liv Racing) just holding on for seconds place. Van Vleuten has jumped up the standings to third at 1:39 behind Reusser.

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While some riders chose to go out on the road bike, most of the top favorites, including van Vleuten, opted for the time trial set-up.

“I have a good feeling, it’s nice to win a stage and it’s nice to win the time trial. After the win in Tokyo, it was nice to catch up with my time trial bike. I chose the time trial bike because it was faster for me because I have trained a lot on the time trial bike,” van Vleuten said.

“After yesterday, I knew it would be difficult if you give Marlen Reusser, who is in really good form, nearly two minutes. It’s really hard, but on the other hand, I’m super excited for tomorrow. I don’t like defending style racing and I also struggle in stage races because I have to defend.

“In my heart, I’m not a defender, I’m an attacker so I’m more a one-day racer and I don’t like to race conservative. Tomorrow I have nothing to lose and everything to win and I hope other teams think like that. We won’t give it as a present to Marlen Reusser and I hope we can put on a good show for people watching it.”

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No stopping van Vleuten

After an opening stage that saw the breakaway take the day and a bunch sprint in the group behind, the big-name GC stars were mixed within start times.

World time trial champion Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) had an off-day, and she finished well down the standings after completing her ride with her skinsuit unzipped. It’s not clear if her zip was broken or the Dutchwoman forgot to do it, but the former is the most likely reason.

Despite the zip issue, van der Breggen set the quickest time at the intermediate check, but she was quickly beaten by a Leah Thomas (Movistar) on a mission. By the time they reached the line Thomas, who would set the new benchmark time, had van der Breggen in her sights, with the SD Worx rider stopping the clock at 20:53.

Van Vleuten rolled down the ramp close to 20 minutes after her compatriot and went second quickest at the opening check. She was obviously saving it for the hardest part of the climb, and she took chunks out of everyone else in the second part of the ride to finish nearly a minute quicker than Thomas, who was still the fastest rider at the time.

The Movistar rider had a tense wait to see how race leader Reusser — who was the only rider to get within a minute of her in the Olympic TT — was the last to set off. Reusser had dismissed her chances after stage 1 but kept van Vleuten at close quarters.

By the midway point, it was clear that van Vleuten would hold on for the stage honors, but Reusser had done more than enough to maintain her advantage in the overall classification.