Tomorrow, Friday, the second edition of Itzulia Women starts. Van Vleuten and Vollering meet for rematch after the development of the recent Tour of Spain in which he won the first by just 9 seconds. That of Movistar and SD Worx with the main favourites, but Rooijakkers (Canyon-Sram Racing), Marta Cavalli (FDJ-Suez), Liane Lippert (Movistar), Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx) must also be taken into account. , Iurani Blanco Calbet (Laboral Kutxa-Euskadi Foundation) or Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team) among others.
The race will run along the Basque roads on May 12, 13 and 14. The first stage will take place today through Vizcaya, between Etxebarria and Markina (122 km). The second will be the Álava event, on Saturday, connecting Vitoria with Amurrio (133 km). The third will reproduce the route of the women’s Classic leaving and arriving at Boulevard San Sebastian (114 km). The steps through Jaizkibel and Murgil Tontorra will surely decide the race. The novelty, which does not go down to San Sebastián directly but turns towards Orio taking advantage of the asphalt which has been done recently due to the passage of the Tour through Euskadi in July.
“We are very excited about the female Itzulia. Let’s hope that time respects us and that the fans respond. It is the second time that we have organized it and we know that all eyes will be on here. We also leave from EIKA, a machinery company from Etxebarria that is committed to working with female labor”, explained Eraso, who chairs OCETA, the company that sets up this top-level international event. In the end there will be twenty teams at the starting line after the foreseeable loss of Zaaf Cycling since the UCI revoked its license to compete.
Last year was that of a Demi Vollering with a cannibal spirit. She won in Labastida in the sprint, in Mallabia facing the final wall and in San Sebastián breaking the race at the Murgil pass. She took the yellow jersey on the street and demonstrated her great category. This year she won the Strade Bianche and the triptych in the Ardennes. She was the first in the Amstel, in the Fleche Wallonne and in Liège. But he met his match when Van Vleuten overtook him in the Vuelta, with some controversy, with a getaway to Laredo taking advantage of the fact that the Dutch woman had stopped to pee.