Georgia Baker blasted to second place against tough competition on a wild and windy stage four of La Vuelta Femenina.
Along with Liv AlUla Jayco teammate Silke Smulders, the Australian made it into a select group of 19 riders that slipped up the road as crosswinds battered the peloton.
The group went clear just over 20km into the 142km stage and stayed away all the way to the line, with Baker and Smulders holding the high pace on the fast stage from Molina de Aragón to Zaragoza.
Going into the final kilometres, the front group broke apart as Kristen Faulkner attacked on a short, uncategorised climb.
Baker stormed the sprint from the chasing group, besting Marianne Vos and red jersey wearer Blanka Vas to the line. Smulders was close behind after setting up her teammate and made it across the line in eighth place to make it two Liv AlUla Jayco riders in the top 10 for the third day running.
Georgia Baker:
“It was a really hard stage with lots of crosswinds all day so it was just on from the get-go. I’m really happy I was able to sprint and finish second. Silke was in the group with me as well, so that was really handy. In the last 20km, we sat on hoping that Mavi’s [García] group would come back for a good GC result as well. Unfortunately, it didn’t so my focus was then full gas for the sprint.
We had a short, 300-metre steep climb about six kilometres before the finish. I just had to get over that and reset. We had Kristen Faulkner up the road, unfortunately we couldn’t catch her but I was able to win the bunch sprint, which was really good and something that I’ve been definitely working on. It’s a really great podium for the team.“
2024 La Vuelta Femenina – Stage 4 results
1. Kristen Faulkner 03:02:37
2. Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) st
3. Marianne Vos st
Photo: Sprint Cycling
