Kopecky off the mark and into red on La Vuelta Femenina stage 4

This time there was no debate. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) finally picked up her first win of La Vuelta Femenina after she delivered a towering sprint on the drag to the line in Antas de Ulla on stage 4.

The Belgian came home ahead of her teammate Anna van der Breggen and Letizia Paternoster (Liv Alula Jayco) to take the honours and move into the red jersey. Previous leader Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) placed fifth on the stage.

Kopecky’s SD Worx-Protime squad took the reins in the closing kilometres to sweep up the break and tee up their leader. On the drag towards the line, Kopecky took the wheel of Liane Lippert (Movistar) before unleashing a fine sprint to take the win.

Van der Breggen was lined up on Kopecky’s wheel as something of a sweeper, and the Dutchwoman helped herself to second on the stage.

In the overall standings, Kopecky is now six seconds ahead of Koch, with Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) third at 12 seconds.

The rugged earlier terrain contributed to a flood of early attacks, with rider after rider trying to jump away on the Alto de Oural. Marine Allione (Mayenne-Monbana My Pie) was first to the top of the category 3 climb ahead of Annelies Nijssen (Lotto-Intermarché Ladies), and that duo would soon be joined by Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) and Marta Jaskulska (Human Powered Health) at the head of the race.

The quartet would combine well to build a buffer of three minutes over the peloton, where Franziska Koch’s FDJ United-Suez squad took on the bulk of the responsibility for the chase. The bunch would bring the gap close to two minutes over the Alto do Hospital with 30km to go, and the margin would shrink still further as the pace ratcheted upwards on the run-in to Antas de Ulla.

Jaskulska attacked from the break with 13km to go, bringing Hanson with her, and this pair would carry a lead of a minute over the peloton in the final 10km.

The splintering of the break would leave two bonus seconds for the peloton at the sprint with 5km to go, and the red jersey, Koch was able to sweep up the bonification without any competition, with her rivals like Kopecky preferring to save themselves for the uphill kick to the line.

Hanson and Jaskulska still had 35 seconds as the bunch thundered into the final 3km, but with SD Worx-Protime now fully committed to chasing them down, their effort was doomed, and they were swept up soon afterwards.