Letizia Paternoster showed her toughness as she picked herself up from a crash to sprint to another third-place finish on stage five of La Vuelta Femenina.
The Italian was caught up in a crash in the last 25km of the race and forced to chase back to the peloton, before fighting to a second top three finish in two days.
The stage had looked to be reasonably straightforward sprint stage as the peloton chased down an early breakaway of five riders. But bad luck then struck Team Jayco AlUla when Paternoster was unable to avoid a crash in front of her and hit the deck.
Josie Talbot was quick to react and swap bikes, before the Australian paced her teammate back to the bunch and to the front of the race ahead of the finale. Ruby Roseman-Gannon was then asked with positioning Paternoster for the sprint and the 27-year-old dropped off her sprinter in prime position inside the final kilometre.
Fighting through the pain, Paternoster once again went toe-to-toe with her rivals in the uphill kick to the finish line and was rewarded with her second third place of the race, backing up from yesterday’s result.
Letizia Paternoster:
“I’m in a lot of pain! I think this podium is a team podium, because after my crash they brought me back to the peloton and I gave my all for the team. Now we will see how I am after the crash.”
La Vuelta Femenina – Stage 5 Results:
1. Mischa Bredewold 2:54:07
2. Lotte Kopecky ST
3. Letizia Paternoster (Team Jayco AlUla) ST
Photo: Sprint Cycling
